Congress on Tuesday rolled out its last major funding deal of the year and is expected to move quickly to try to pass it ahead of a Friday government shutdown deadline.
The bill, which is more than 1,500 pages long, would keep the government funded at current levels through March 14, buying time for the next Congress to finish its funding work for fiscal year 2025.
It also includes a number of add-ons, including more than $100 billion in disaster and emergency funding, a health care-related package, and an extension of the farm bill.
Below are just some of the highlights from the package.
Disaster assistance
Lawmakers agreed to tack on roughly $100 billion in disaster aid as members on both sides of the aisle have dialed up pressure on leaders for relief following hurricanes Helene and Milton.
That includes nearly $30 billion in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as officials have sounded alarm over the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund in recent months. It also includes disaster relief for farmers, and $4 million for the Office of Inspector General for oversight.
There’s also about $20 billion for disaster assistance to farmers and producers that falls under dollars for the Department of Agriculture, roughly $1 billion for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, and more than $800 million for the Emergency Conservation Program, as outlined in a breakdown of the disaster relief portion of the package.
More than $10 billion in funding would also go toward the departments of Interior, Agriculture Forest Service and the Environmental Protection Agency for costs incurred by disasters in 2024 and in recent years.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development would also receive $12 billion for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery, and negotiators say more than $3 billion would go to the Defense Department (DOD) for repair from extreme weather events for military programs.
The DOD would also receive about $2 billion in funds partly for construction on Guam following Typhoon Mawar.
PBM reforms, health extenders
Lawmakers agreed to attach an expansive health care package to the legislation. The health portion contains reforms to the pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) industry, extensions of Medicare telehealth flexibilities, reauthorizations of legislation to prevent pandemics and address the opioid crisis, payments to community health centers and other policies.
The PBM changes have been a bipartisan priority for years but until now never made it to the finish. PBMs negotiate discounted drug prices for insurers and employers.
The measures include a ban on linking PBM compensation to a drug’s Medicare price. Lawmakers and PBM critics say higher drug prices lead to higher fees to PBMs; the higher the price of a covered drug, the steeper the potential discount, some of which PBMs keep as profit. So there’s an incentive for PBMs to steer patients to the highest cost drugs.
Critics have long argued PBMs operate essentially in the shadows, so the funding bill includes new reporting requirements to increase transparency, including requiring PBMs to disclose the cost and reimbursement of drugs and any fees or discounts involved.
The PBM changes will be used to help pay for some of the other health provisions.
Farm bill extension
The package includes another one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill after Congress also failed to pass a longer extension last year, as well as an additional $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers.
Lawmakers said some of the assistance for farmers had emerged as a key sticking point as funding talks ramped up in the past week. Some Republicans threatened to vote against the stopgap measure if it did not include economic assistance for farmers and ranchers.
Key bridge funding
Democrats have also lauded a section of the bill they say would cover replacement costs for the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
“With the inclusion in the Continuing Resolution of our Baltimore BRIDGE Relief Act, Congress is now committed to covering the full cost of replacing the bridge. This will allow the bridge it to be built as quickly as possible,” Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
“Our provision also ensures that the federal taxpayers will be reimbursed through proceeds from insurance payments and litigation taken on by the Department of Justice, the Maryland Attorney General and others.”
There’s also $8 billion in funding for federal highway and roads disaster relief that falls under the Transportation Department.
Small Business Association
Lawmakers agreed on more than $2 billion in funding for the Small Business Administration after officials said its disaster loan program — which businesses and homeowners rely on for low-interest loans to recover from disasters — ran out of funds during hurricane season.
RFK stadium
Another line item in the stopgap would also transfer administrative jurisdiction over the RFK Memorial Stadium Campus to the District of Columbia in a move that could lead to the return of the Washington Commanders to the nation’s capital.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who led a legislative effort along with Washington, D.C., Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), expressed excitement about language getting tucked into the stopgap to make the move earlier on Tuesday.
If it passes, the legislation unveiled Tuesday would direct the Interior Secretary to transfer administrative jurisdiction to the District, allowing it to use the campus for stadium redevelopment and other purposes.
“We figured out a way to make this work, to be able to attract the Commanders back to Washington. It’s a win-win for Washington,” Comer told The Hill, while adding he and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) have “been in constant communication for months” as part of the ongoing effort.
Nathaniel Weixel contributed.
