WASHINGTON, D.C.—Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) supported House passage of a bipartisan $1.2 trillion spending package that funds the government through September 2024 and invests in Northwest Washington communities and working families. The spending package passed the House with a vote of 286 to 134 on Friday, March 22, the Senate the following day with a vote of 74-24 and signed into law by President Joe Biden that same day.
“My priority in shaping spending bills is to invest in Northwest Washington communities to create jobs, keep the economy moving and provide vital services working families rely on,” said Larsen. “This spending bill makes those investments while also giving servicemembers a raise, funding education, supporting local small businesses, and delivering critical funding local communities need to combat the opioid crisis and save lives.
The spending package addresses several of Larsen’s priorities, including:
Creating Jobs
- $10.4 billion for workforce and training initiatives, including $285 million for registered apprenticeships
- $1.4 billion for Career and Technical education grants
- $140 million for Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) like the Washington SBDC that has helped small businesses and entrepreneurs grow and thrive, creating jobs and driving long-term economic growth
- $20 million for the State Trade Expansion Program to enable local businesses to expand into overseas markets
Supporting Servicemembers and Military Families
- 5.2 percentpay raisefor all servicemembers
- More than $1.6 billion in Impact Aid for school districts that serve large numbers of military families and Indian tribes, like Oak Harbor, Coupeville and La Conner
- Reducing military jet noiseby directing grants to communities impacted by noise
Improving Public Health
- $4.2 billion foropioid prevention and treatment, recovery, and tribal-focused treatment efforts
- $2.8 billion formental health initiatives,including $520 million for the 988 crisis lifeline and Behavioral Health Crisis Services
- $365 million forrural healthinitiatives
Boosting Education
- $21 billion forearly childhood education, including $12.3 billion for Head Start
- $1.4 billion for Career and Technical education grants
- $52 million for Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities like Northwest Indian College
- $7,395 for the maximum Pell Grant award, which protects the historic $900 increase to the award secured in previous legislation
Larsen Secures $19.3 Million for 15 Local Projects
Earlier this month, Larsen secured $19.3 million for fifteen local projects in the first six-bill spending package that local elected officials and community leaders identified as critical to their communities. Click here for the full list of earmarks and reactions from local elected officials and community leaders.
Breakdown of the $1.2 trillion 2024 Spending Package
Among other things, the $1.2 trillion funding package:
- Lowers child care costs for families and strengthens Head Start with a new $1 billion investment to help families in every zip code afford child care and help ensure Head Start can continue serving hundreds of thousands of kids each year.
- Invests in students at every stage of their education and sustains essential investments in our nation’s public schools by delivering resources for our public K-12 schools, Pell Grants, and more—and rejecting devastating cuts that would have forced teachers out of our nation’s K-12 classrooms.
- Keeps our country safe and supports our servicemembers and military families with essential investments in our national defense and important additional support for those who serve our country in uniform.
- Protects workers’ rights and helps ensure they get the paychecks they have earned by protecting funding for essential worker protection agencies and the National Labor Relations Board.
- Builds on our historic economic recovery and supports small businesses.
- Supports people’s health, strengthens the health care workforce, and guards against public health threats, rejecting dangerous cuts and sustaining all manner of investments in patients’ health.
- Propels cutting-edge biomedical research to discover and create new treatments and cures that save lives and give people more time with their loved ones.
- Invests in mental health care and research and strengthens the 988 lifeline—sustaining and building upon key investments made in recent years.
- Protects consumers and holds fraudsters and rich tax cheats accountable to help even the playing field and keep growing our economy from the middle out.
- Combats the flow of fentanyl, strengthens our detection and enforcement capabilities, and invests in substance use disorder treatment and prevention to address the opioid crisis that continues to devastate communities.
- Delivers critical resources to help meet operational needs at our southern border.
- Maintains America’s global leadership and upholds our commitments to our allies and partners to promote our own national security and strengthen our competitiveness.
- Supports our Afghan allies by authorizing an additional 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghans who assisted the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan.
- Increases base funding for humanitarian assistance to support the United States’ efforts to provide emergency food, shelter, water, and basic services to populations caught in conflict and crises across the globe.
Bill summaries and explanatory statements accompanying each of the bills in the package are available below:
- Defense
- Financial Services and General Government
- Homeland Security
- Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
- Legislative Branch
- State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
More information on the six-bill package—including Congressionally Directed Spending—is available HERE. Text of the legislation is available HERE.
SOURCE: Office of Rick Larsen and United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
