H.R. 2471, officially known as the “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022,” would provide $1.5 trillion in “discretionary” appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022 for federal government operations and services. This omnibus spending bill was voted on in two portions (Roll Calls 65 and 66). The provisions in the first portion to be voted on (Roll Call 65) included $728.5 billion for the Department of Defense, $81.1 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, and $75.8 billion for the Commerce Department. Included within this spending was $600 million for security cooperation with Ukraine and other Eastern European nations, $23.9 billion for FEMA, $3.9 billion in grants for state and local law-enforcement agencies, and $13.6 billion in assistance to Ukraine.
The House passed the first portion of H.R. 2471 on March 9, 2022 by a vote of 361 to 69 (Roll Call 65). We have assigned pluses to the nays because of the many unconstitutional agencies and programs that it would fund, because it funds our further entanglement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict without a congressional declaration of war, and because this reckless spending is already yielding record-high inflation.
