Nearly three months after the start of fiscal year (FY) 2020, congressional leaders were able to reach an agreement on a two-part spending deal that will fund the federal government through September 30, 2020. President Trump signed the two packages (H.R. 1865; H.R. 1158) totaling more than 2,300 pages and $1.4 trillion, into law on December 20, averting a government shutdown and bringing an end to several months of short-term funding extensions and disagreements over spending levels and policy riders.

The first package (H.R. 1158) included four of the twelve appropriations bills: Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce-Justice Science and Financial Services. The remaining eight bills, Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, Agriculture, Energy and Water Development, Interior-Environment, Legislative Branch, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, State-Foreign Operations and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, were grouped together in the second package (H.R. 1865).

The overall $1.37 trillion funding in the spending bills – a combination of $738 billion in defense funding and $632 billion for non-defense departments – represents the highest level of appropriations funding for the federal government since FY 2011. In total, the spending agreement provides $49 billion in extra funding spread across the federal government over the next nine months.