The stopgap spending bill congressional leaders agreed on this week began as a simple funding measure to keep government funds flowing past a Friday night deadline and into early next year, long after House Republicans elect a speaker and President-elect Donald J. Trump is sworn in.
But by the time it was rolled out to lawmakers on Tuesday night, it had transformed into a true Christmas tree of a bill, adorned with all manner of unrelated policy measures in the kind of year-end catchall that Republicans have long derided. It is a 1,547-page behemoth of a package with provisions spanning foreign investment restrictions, new health care policies and a stadium for the Washington Commanders.
End-of-year spending bills often become magnets for unrelated measures, fueled by last-minute spasms of deal-cutting by lawmakers who recognize it could be their last chance to get something done. That was even more true this year with Democrats bracing for a Republican governing trifecta come January, and Speaker Mike Johnson arriving at the negotiating table sapped of leverage because a large group of his members refuses to vote for any spending measure.
Mr. Johnson had another incentive to allow the package to balloon: He could satisfy some longstanding bipartisan desires with minimal Republican fingerprints, merely blaming a Democratic Senate and White House for any bloat in the deal. He will not have that luxury in a few weeks, when Republicans control all of Congress and Mr. Trump is in the White House.
“We’ve got to get this done because here’s the key: by doing this, we are clearing the decks, and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the America First agenda,” Mr. Johnson said on “Fox and Friends” on Wednesday morning.
Here are some of the provisions that made it into the spending bill, which could come to a vote in the House as early as Wednesday.
Disaster aid
One of the biggest chunks of funds — and one of the more politically popular — is the aid portion of the legislation, which provides $100 billion for communities ravaged by Hurricanes Milton and Helene and other disasters. Included in that money is $21 billion to help farmers whose crops were ravaged by natural disasters.
The bill also provides full funding for the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore that collapsed in March.
Payments to farmers
Lawmakers set aside $10 billion in direct economic assistance, available to any farmer who applied for a federal agricultural funding program such as crop insurance, subsidies or disaster assistance in 2024. The aid would be distributed based on how many acres of eligible crops they grow. Proponents argued it was necessary in part because Republicans and Democrats had failed to reach agreement on a new farm bill, leaving subsidy payments at a level set six years ago.
A pay raise for lawmakers
It has been more than a decade since members of Congress have gotten a cost-of-living increase in their salaries. Lawmakers, loath to be seen giving themselves a pay raise while their constituents face economic challenges, have routinely included language in spending bills that exempts them from the wage increases that other federal employees receive.
In a legislative sleight of hand reported earlier by Bloomberg Government, the spending bill’s drafters omitted that provision this time, positioning themselves for a raise of 3.8 percent. The current salary of most members is $174,000.
Some lawmakers have long argued that they should be allowed to receive cost-of-living increases to ensure that average people — not just the ultrawealthy — can afford to serve in Congress. Others have contended that the appearance of self-dealing has made the issue too toxic.
Already one centrist House Democrat, Representative Jared Golden of Maine, who narrowly held his seat in November in his Trump-won district, has said he will oppose the bill because of this measure.
Restrictions on investment in Chinese technology companies
The bill would broaden restrictions President Biden imposed last year on American investment in key Chinese technology industries, expanding the list of prohibited technologies to any that could be used in integrated circuits for military, intelligence or mass surveillance purposes.
Child care
Two of the top Democratic appropriators, Senator Patty Murray of Washington and Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, have worked to shoehorn additional money for child care and early education programs into virtually every major spending bill that Congress considers.
Tucked into this legislation is $250 million in emergency spending to increase access to child care for working families and another $250 million for renovations to child care facilities damaged by natural disasters and temporary child care services in affected areas.
Other measures include:
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Allowing E15 ethanol — gasoline blended with 15 percent corn-based ethanol — to be sold year-round.
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An additional $25 million to protect the residences of Supreme Court justices.
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Requiring vendors selling tickets to “concerts, sports and other large gatherings” to disclose to consumers the total ticket price — including additional fees — at the beginning of a transaction.
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Transferring control of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia, paving the way for the Washington Commanders football team to move their stadium from Maryland to play home games in the nation’s capital.
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Criminalizing the publication of “nonconsensual intimate visual depictions,” including deepfake pornography, and requiring social media platforms to have procedures in place to remove the content after being notified by a victim.
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Imposing new restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers, the companies hired by employers and government programs like Medicare to negotiate drug prices and oversee prescriptions. The measures would discourage those companies from steering patients toward more expensive drugs.
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Throwing out a requirement that lawmakers buy health coverage on an insurance exchange established by the Affordable Care Act and allowing them to get coverage from the traditional federal employee benefits plan.
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Adding to the existing responsibilities of the assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism the additional mandate of promoting “locations and events in the United States that are important to music tourism.”
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