Congress has passed a spending deal that will keep the government from shutting down. The measure provides for increases in defense and border security. A bipartisan committee worked out the compromise that will keep the government funded at least through September.
Also, there is a chance that Congress will act on healthcare as early as this week. The White House is claiming to have the votes to repeal and replace Obamacare this week, though Congressional Republicans are more cautious about those prospects. See this for the current state of the healthcare bill.
From Burgess Everett, John Bresnahan, and Sarah Ferris, Congress strikes budget deal that shortchanges Trump, Politico:
Congressional leaders have reached a deal on a $1 trillion spending bill that would fund the government at updated levels through the end of September.
The bipartisan deal struck Sunday night would increase defense spending and provide $1.5 billion in new border security spending aimed at repairing existing infrastructure and increasing technology, though it would not allocate any new funding for a Southern border wall with Mexico despite the president’s insistence. Under the plan, Congress would provide $15 billion in supplemental funding requested by President Donald Trump to fight terrorism, though $2.5 billion of that is contingent on the White House presenting Congress with a plan to fight the Islamic State.
The bill clocks in at more than 1,600 pages and Congress must pass it before Friday evening to avert a shutdown, though the bill is likely to pass easily because it contains key boosts to defense and domestic programs viewed by leaders in both parties as vastly preferable to another stopgap measure. House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey said it is “the result of over a year’s worth of careful and dedicated efforts to closely examine federal programs to make the best possible use of every tax dollar.”
[Keep reading. . .]
But Democrats are celebrating the spending bill as a victory and some observers are saying that Trump got rolled.
Photo by Architect of the Capitol – aoc.gov, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7531712
Congress has passed a spending deal that will keep the government from shutting down. The measure provides for increases in defense and border security. A bipartisan committee worked out the compromise that will keep the government funded at least through September.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In