Lawmakers FINALLY release text of first government funding bills with just 6 days until next shutdown: Speaker Johnson touts 'policy victories' including cuts to Biden agencies including the FBI pushing 'left-wing' policies

The six bills Congress needs to pass before Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown include some Republican victories including cutting FBI and EPA funding. 

Speaker Johnson said Republicans 'secured key conservative policy victories' despite a 'divided government' and rejected 'left-wing proposals' in the deal with Democrats announced Sunday. 

The bill is over 1,000 pages and includes funding for six federal agencies - including Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD. 

The agreement will impose 'sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to the President Biden's agenda,' Johnson added.

The main victories the speaker touts is prohibiting the Justice Department from 'targeting parents,' while blocking the Biden administration from following back veterans' Second Amendment rights and funding their health care.

It also will impose 'deep cuts' to the EPA (10%), ATF (7%) and FBI (6%), which Johnson says has 'threatened our freedoms and our economy.'

House Speaker Mike Johnson planned the staggered government funding approach, which set two separate deadlines with one on March 8 and another on March 22

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Republicans of adding 'poison pill' policies to the government funding measures

Other policy provisions in the bill would provide additional funding to the FAA to supervise the production of Boeing 737 Max aircrafts - after several alarming safety incidents in recent months - while another could prohibit U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve sales to China.

Amtrak, the long beleaguered American railway operator, would also get billions in funding. 

The legislation will also increase funds to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in order to specifically increase resources for fighting fentanyl.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was 'proud' of the product that will keep the 'government open without cuts or poison pill riders.'

A Democrat memo summarizing the bill touted how the measure rejected GOP policies prohibiting 'the promotion or advancement of Critical Race Theory' and DEI. 

Still, the Democrat-led Senate will likely look to amend the measures to strip out some of the GOP policies before moving forward with a vote.

Other GOP-led provisions would prevent the Department of Veterans' Affairs from 'attacking' Second Amendment rights of veterans flagging them to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check without consent from a judge.

In addition, it cuts the 'endangered species listing activities' at U.S. Fish and Wildlife and strengthens 'tracking and review of foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land.'

The new funding details come after Congress passed a fourth short-term funding bill late last week, just one day before a government funding deadline. 

The vote gives lawmakers additional time to pass the 12 larger appropriations measures that they are meant to pass every year for the different departments of the federal government. 

This week, the six appropriations bills will be lumped together in a package known as a 'mini-bus,' where all of them come up for just one up-or-down vote, congressional leaders announced Sunday.

Another funding deadline looms on March 22 for the remaining government agencies, but Congress is expected to lump together those bills in one to two mini-bus votes. 

Congress has passed four short-term funding bills and has yet to pass appropriations measures covering the 2024 fiscal year

Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House last week to address government funding

The leaders ultimately decided to go forward with Johnson's short-term spending plan that included pushing the government funding deadlines

'Democrats fought to protect investments that matter to working people & help keep our economy strong—rejecting devastating cuts to housing, nutrition assistance, & more, while blocking extreme Republican policies, like efforts to restrict abortion rights,' Sen. Patty Murray wrote on X.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who strategized the staggered funding deadline approach, tampered GOP members' expectations on a Thursday call.

'If you're expecting a lot of home runs and grand slams here, I admit you'll be disappointed. But we will be able to secure a number of policy victories,' he said.

'These bills will be littered with singles and doubles that we should be proud of, especially in our small majority.' 

Johnson also expressed pride in breaking up the major appropriations bills into separate votes, which have frequently been passed by bunching the 12 measures together in what is called an 'omnibus.' 

'We're trying to turn the aircraft carrier back to real budgeting and spending reform. This was an important thing to break it up into smaller pieces,' Johnson said.

The release of the spending bills' text gives lawmakers 72 hours to look over before a vote is likely scheduled this week. 

The remaining six bills that need to be passed before March 22 are for the Departments of Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS-Education, State-Foreign Operations and the Legislative Branch.