The U.S. House of RepresentativesminibusThe spending package, consisting of six spending bills, was passed by a vote of 339-85 on Wednesday in hopes of preventing a partial government shutdown on Friday.

207 Democrats and 132 Republicans voted in favor of the bill.

The $450 billion package pushed by House Speaker Mike Johnson includes the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Commerce and Energy.

The package was passed without the help of Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover), who said the spending cuts didn't go far enough.

“Voting on two different days doesn't change the fact that Congress is considering the first half of an omnibus bill,” Palmer said. “Congress has repeatedly ignored the debt crisis, the immigration crisis, and many other issues in exchange for temporary funding bills.

Related: Congressional delegation divided on vote to avoid shutdown (2023)

“Right now, we've been given a series of spending bills that were negotiated by just a handful of members,” he added. “These bills lack important policy changes and lack necessary constraints on spending at a time when the national debt exceeds $34 trillion.

“I voted for sound policies and promised to cut wasteful government spending. Unfortunately, this bill misses the mark. We will change the process, get spending done, We need to work very hard to avoid forcing votes on bad legislation.”

Voting on two different days does not change the fact that Congress is considering the first half of an omnibus bill. Congress has repeatedly ignored the debt crisis, the immigration crisis, and many other issues in exchange for temporary funding bills.

— Gary Palmer (@USRepGaryPalmer) March 6, 2024

Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) also voted against the “monster” of spending.

“House Republicans secured a major victory for the American people by passing seven spending bills that contain spending cuts to rein in our ballooning national debt,” Moore said in a statement. “This minibus monster squandered those victories, and they don’t even include funding to end the chaos at our southern border. If we’re going to secure our border and control spending, we’re going to hand the victory to Schumer and Biden. We have to stop.”

Today we vote for: #Swamp omnibus While we are $34 trillion in debt, $12.6 billion of your hard-earned tax dollars are going to special projects, universities, and trust funds.

I'm no.

— Rep. Barry Moore (@RepBarryMoore) March 6, 2024

The package now goes to the Senate for final approval. Congress also needs to pass a second spending bill by March 22 to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Yaffee is a contributor to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee