The House on March 22, 2018, approved 256-167 the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, which would fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year (i.e. September 30, 2018) by allocating $1.3 trillion in discretionary funding among all 12 annual appropriations bills. The bill also includes several tax provisions.

The measure now goes to the Senate, where the timing of a vote is currently uncertain. Congress must approve the consolidated appropriations bill or a short-term continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown after current government funding expires at midnight on March 23.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act has been processed in the form of a House amendment to a bill previously considered by both chambers (H.R. 1625), in an effort to avoid some procedural delays in the Senate. Even so, the bill will be subject to a cloture vote in the Senate requiring 60 votes, and, if invoked, up to 30 hours of debate. If all debate time is used, a final vote would not occur until well beyond the midnight Friday deadline.

The consolidated appropriations bill addresses the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's (TCJA) more favorable treatment of sales by farmers to cooperatives than sales to grain operators that are not cooperatives (under the new 20% deduction for qualified business income of pass-through entities). The bill also includes approximately $2.8 billion of enhancements to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit inserted at the request of Democrats in exchange for their agreement to allow the farmer cooperative issue to be addressed. Also included are tax technical corrections for various bills other than the TCJA.

The authorization and funding for the FAA — expenditure authority from the Airport and Airway Trust fund and aviation taxes directed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund — would be extended through September 30, 2018. Thus, Congress will have to pass additional FAA legislation on or before September 30th. This could serve as a possible vehicle for tax provisions not included in this omnibus appropriations bill.

The bill also includes more than $21 billion for infrastructure projects, including transportation, energy, water, and cyber.

This legislation includes nearly $4 billion in resources to combat the opioid crisis and $177 billion in discretionary funding for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) appropriations bill. It also invests more than $2.3 billion in school safety programs including mental health resources.

The final bill does not include a market stabilization package for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) released on Monday by a bicameral group of Republicans, which was sidelined due to a dispute over adding Hyde Amendment language that prohibits federal abortion funding. Also scrapped were efforts by drug companies to walk back a recent provision in the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) that increased their share of costs in the Medicare "donut hole" from 50% to 70%.

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