omnibus bill

An omnibus bill is a single piece of legislation that contains multiple distinct appropriations bills into one large bill. The word “omnibus” is derived from the plural of the Latin word omnis, which translates to “all, everything, or the whole.” On May 8, 1850, Senator Henry Clay introduced the first omnibus bill in the United States. Clay’s omnibus bill failed to pass, but the bill was later broken up into five separate bills — 1) Texas relinquishes claim to New Mexico Territory in exchange for $10 million, 2) admission of California as a free state, 3) creation of the Utah Territory, 4) Fugitive Slave Act, and 5) ban on the slave trade in Washington D.C. — all bills successfully passed and formed the Compromise of 1850. The highly contentious nature of these issues highlight the “all or nothing” aspect of omnibus bills. For most members of Congress at the time, at least one of these measures was a nonstarter; therefore, the bill as a whole was considered to be a dead end. On the other hand, omnibus bills can be quite efficient for less controversial allocations. Disagreement on minor provisions must be weighed against the importance of passing other portions of the bill. Oftentimes this disagreement does not justify opposing the bill in its entirety due to the resulting issues that would arise if the full omnibus bill were rejected.

In 1950, Congress experimented with an omnibus spending bill and packaged all (ten at the time) appropriations bills into an omnibus bill for the following fiscal year. Congress did not pass another omnibus spending bill until 1982. Since then, Congress has increasingly made omnibus bills the primary vehicle for passing appropriation bills. Today it is standard practice to combine some if not all of the 12 appropriations bills into an omnibus bill. Smaller appropriations bills that do not combine all 12 bills are also referred to as a “minibus.” According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, from fiscal year 2012 through 2024, over 98 percent of appropriations bills were passed as a part of an omnibus appropriations bill. Proponents of the omnibus bill cite the need for efficiency to pass the federal budget in a timely manner. Critics assert that omnibus legislation leads to the inclusion of excessive earmarking, and gives too much power to high ranking party members.

[Last reviewed in April of 2026 by the Wex Definitions Team]

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