Lawmakers have government-wide funding bill deal

Top Capitol Hill negotiators reached a hard-won agreement on a huge $1 trillion-plus spending bill that would fund the dayto-day operations of virtually every federal agency through September, aides said Sunday night.

Details of the agreement were expected to be made public soon, said aides to lawmakers involved in weeks of negotiations. The House and Senate had until midnight Friday to pass a measure to avert a government shutdown.

The catchall spending bill would be the first major piece of bipartisan legislation to advance during President Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House. It denies him a win on his oft-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but gives him a $15 billion down payment on his request to strengthen the military.

It also rejects White House budget director Mick Mulvaney’s proposals to cut popular programs such as funding medical research and community development grants and adds $1.5 billion for border security measures such as additional detention beds.

Most of the core decisions about agency budgets had been worked out, but unrelated policy issues — such as a Democratic request to help the cashstrapped government of Puerto Rico with its Medicaid burden — were among the final holdups.

The aides required anonymity because they were not allowed to speak about the agreement by name.

Democrats praised a $2 billion funding increase for the National Institutes of Health — rejecting the steep cuts proposed by Trump — as well as additional funding to combat opioid abuse, fund Pell Grants for summer school and additional transit funding.