After almost six months of Continuing Resolutions, it had begun to look likely that the entirety of FY2022 would be conducted under a series of CRs. Starting in the week of March 7 however, Congress kicked into high gear. On March 9, 2022, the House passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, with a final margin of 361-69. On March 10, less than 24 hours later the Senate passed their version of the omnibus bill with a margin of 68-31. President Biden signed the bill into law on Friday, March 11, 2022, fully funding the government through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2022.

The compromises involved in passing this bipartisan bill were logical. House Democrats agreed to approximately half the increase in non-defense spending as had been originally proposed. In exchange, Republicans received a larger increase in defense spending than the $46 billion increase proposed by House Democrats, albeit one that fell short of perfect parity in percentage terms relative to the increase in non-defense spending.

Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) had the following to say about the passage of the omnibus appropriations bill. “Is an omnibus appropriations bill ideal? No, it’s not. But at this critical time, and this late date, it’s necessary … I think overall, this is something we should have done six months ago.”

The compromises in this bill were clear from the beginning. Both parties quite literally met in the middle on spending priorities and agreed to the final bill with only days of debate after a six-month period during which the Senate had failed to pass a single appropriations bill, and the House had only passed nine of twelve. The Russian invasion of Ukraine appears to have spurred Congress to action on a variety of issues, helping to overcome partisan polarization and infighting.