'Get this done': Lawmakers unveil final spending deal to avert partial government shutdown

WASHINGTON – Top lawmakers unveiled the final set of spending bills early Thursday morning to fund the government long term, a major step forward that will soon end the constant government shutdown scares that have plagued the country.

The massive spending legislation, which totals $1.2 trillion and combines six spending bills into one funding package, comes after an original funding deadline of Sept. 30 last year, over five months ago. Lawmakers were forced to extend government funding on a short-term basis four times before coming to a final agreement.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Wednesday morning, “the goal” for the lower chamber is to pass the bill on Friday, just hours before the government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Some Senate leaders have expressed hope they can approve the legislation by the funding deadline, but last-minute snags and holdups have often delayed passage in the upper chamber. That means a shutdown could still hit the country – albeit a brief one with minor effects over the weekend.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, expressed optimism Congress could make the Friday deadline, saying at a weekly news conference, “no one should want a shutdown. No one should cause a shutdown. Let’s pull together and get this done.”

The top Republican on the committee, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, agreed Thursday that a shutdown is unlikely, but if there is one it will be of an "extremely short duration."

The final product came after intense bipartisan negotiations for the final set of spending bills which proved significantly more controversial than past funding deals. Talks hit last-minute snags last weekend because of holdups over border security funding in the Homeland Security spending bill.

The bill has already drawn significant blowback from Congress’ ultraconservative lawmakers. Before negotiators even reached a deal in principle this week, more than 40 conservative House Republicans signed on to a letter urging their colleagues to vote against whatever spending legislation would go to the floor unless it included significant GOP-backed overhauls to border and migrant policy.

“It is a total lack of backbone, total lack of leadership and a total failure by Republican leadership,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus said Thursday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.

GOP leadership has also irritated those conservatives for leaning toward waiving their promise to lawmakers allowing members 72 hours to review legislation before putting it on the House floor. But considering the animosity the deal received from its opponents, lawmakers noted that 72 hours likely wouldn’t have changed many hearts and minds regardless.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., another ultraconservative lawmaker, argued on Wednesday morning he needs 72 hours “to help people know what’s in the bill.”

But those conservative lawmakers can’t do much to stop the bill from passing Congress. The bill is expected to clear both chambers with bipartisan support.

Both parties claimed their own victories from the bipartisan deal. Johnson told reporters on Wednesday that Republicans secured additional beds to detain migrants at the southern border and more funding toward "enforcement of the law rather than just processing,” when it comes to the nation's immigration system, among other wins.

"House Republicans have achieved significant conservative policy wins, rejected extreme Democrat proposals, and imposed substantial cuts to wasteful agencies and programs while strengthening border security and national defense," Johnson said in a statement following the bill's release.

Murray said Wednesday the deal doesn’t have “the bills that Democrats would have written on their own ... but now we have a good bipartisan bill that protects absolutely essential investments in the American people,” claiming Democrats were able to fight off “hundreds” of GOP-backed policy add-ons.

Democratic negotiators were also able to secure a new $1 billion investment in child care and Head Start, a federally funded childhood development program for low-income families among other victories.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawmakers unveil spending deal to avert partial government shutdown