Both parties claim wins in massive omnibus spending bill

Democratic and Republican appropriators released a sprawling, $1.7 trillion fiscal 2023 omnibus spending bill early Tuesday morning, setting up a race to the finish line for the 117th Congress by the end of this week.

Each side of the aisle claimed their own victories in the package, which spans 4,155 pages. It not only covers the dozen annual spending bills for every federal agency, plus supplemental aid for the war in Ukraine and natural disaster victims, but also an extensive set of unrelated policies such as horseracing industry rules and a TikTok ban on government-issued devices.

The final numbers include $858 billion in defense-related spending, a nearly 10 percent, or $76 billion, increase over the previous fiscal year, which Republicans celebrated. That figure includes a 4.6 percent pay raise for military servicemembers and Pentagon civilian employees.

Both parties praised the inclusion of nearly $119 billion for veterans medical care, a 22 percent increase over fiscal 2022, not counting a $5 billion infusion for the toxic exposure benefits law enacted over the summer.