US spending deal: More military funds, none for border wall

WASHINGTON: US congressional leaders on Monday unveiled a bipartisan deal funding government through September, with a compromise that includes President Donald Trump’s call for increased military spending but ignores his demand to fund a border wall.

The agreement was struck late Sunday after weeks of tense negotiations fuelled the threat of a government shutdown just as Trump was to mark his 100th day in office.

Congress is expected to vote this week on the new bill, which provides US$ 1.163 trillion in overall federal spending, ahead of a Friday night deadline when government funding would expire absent a new agreement. The leaders in the Republican- controlled Congress will need support from Democrats in the Senate in order to pass the legislation.

Despite Republicans running Congress and the White House, the opposition party has hailed the spending bill as a victory because the Trump administration has punted on several elements that Trump had deemed priorities during his presidential campaign.

Notably it includes no money for Trump’s border wall.

Trump made building the wall along the southern US border with Mexico one of the primary pledges of his campaign, insisting it would begin within his fi rst 100 days, a milestone that came and went on Saturday.

But Republicans are pleased because the bill adds some US$ 1.5 billion in funding for other security efforts along the nearly 3,218-kilometre border, and boosts military spending.

Of the trillion dollars in the bill’s discretionary spending, US$ 598.5 billion is slated for defence — an increase of US$ 25 billion, or 4.5 per cent, above fiscal year 2016 levels, and 3.8 per cent above the request by Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama last year.

It also funds an authorised 2.1 per cent pay raise for the military.

ThedealmakesAmerica“stronger and safer,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in statement, because “it acts on President Trump’s commitment to rebuild our military for the 21st century and bolster our nation’s border security to protect our homeland.”

The news that Congress reached a deal to avert a shutdown helped send stocks rising in Asia and in early US trade. — AFP