The vote was sparsely attended, after more than half of the House had tabled the bill letter from the pandemic era with which a colleague can vote on his behalf.
The spending package is widely seen as the last guaranteed bill to keep the government funded as Republicans prepare to take control of the House on January 3 and use their new majority to force the Biden administration and Democrats to to accept the drastic cuts that the liberals have made. sworn against. It served as a swan song for lawmakers retiring after decades in Congress — most notably Senators Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama, from the helm of the Appropriations Committee — and advocates of the spending process who are moving away from leadership, such as Ms. Pelosi and Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader.
The vote count exposed the stark contrast between House and Senate Republicans and their opposing approaches to government spending, foreshadowing potentially bitter political battles in the new year. More than a third of Senate Republicans voted in favor of the bill, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader.
“I’m concerned about the size and scope of the package,” said Texas Representative Kay Granger, who is slated to remain the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee.
“I am disappointed that I cannot support this bill,” she added, citing the increase for programs not related to military spending.
Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader seeking to secure the elusive votes needed to be the speaker of the House on a narrow Republican majority, gave a barbed speech of about 25 minutes against the sprawling package. He directly criticized the outgoing lawmakers who drafted the measure, railed against the proxy voting system lawmakers in both parties used to avoid in-person voting, and lamented the opacity of the painstaking process that led to this week’s release of the sprawling package.
“This monstrosity is one of the most shameful acts I have ever seen in this body,” said Mr McCarthy, crossing out what he called the worst parts of the legislation. That list included the increase in spending on domestic programs, some of the projects Democrats like Mr. Leahy and Ms. DeLauro had called for, and what he denounced as “awakening handouts.”