Senate passes short-term spending bill to keep government running
The Senate WASHINGTON — on Tuesday passed a shortterm spending bill that would keep the government running through Dec. 7, aiming to put off a fight over funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall until after the midterm elections.
The legislation came attached to a massive budget package that contains full-year 2019 funding for the Pentagon as well as for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments. GOP leaders designed the package to combine key Republican and Democratic priorities in an attempt to garner overwhelming bipartisan support — and give Trump a win on military spending, even as Congress delays a fight over the money he wants for his wall.
The 93-7 vote Tuesday came less than two weeks ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline when government funding will run out without action by Congress and Trump.
“This is necessary to ensure that we do not face a government shutdown in the event that we do not finish our work on the remaining bills,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The legislation still must pass the House, which is expected to take it up next week.
But it remains uncertain whether Trump will sign it. The president has toyed repeatedly with shutting down the government to try to get more money for the border wall.
Over the weekend Trump criticized Republican leaders over the issue, writing on Twitter, “When will Republican leadership learn that The legislation would keep the Homeland Security Department — which funds the border wall — operating through Dec. 7 at 2018 budget levels, along with other agencies whose 2019 budgets Congress has not yet acted on. they are being played like a fiddle by the Democrats on Border Security and Building the Wall? Without Borders, we don’t have a country. With Open Borders, which the Democrats want, we have nothing but crime! Finish the Wall!”
Senate Democrats have agreed to $1.6 billion for Trump’s wall in 2019, but that’s far short of the $5 billion Trump wants. Convinced they don’t have the votes in the Senate to get Trump the money he wants, GOP leaders elected to put off a messy fight over Trump’s signature campaign issue until after the midterm elections.
Congressional Republicans are convinced that a shutdown just ahead of the midterms would be disastrous, while Trump has suggested that it could be a good move politically.
All told, the Pentagon and Labor-HHS spending bills account for more than 60 percent of all discretionary spending, which is the portion of the $4 trillion federal budget that Congress doles out annually. That does not include what are called “mandatory” spending programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, that operate without annual appropriations from Congress.
The Pentagon budget for 2019 would be $606.5 billion under the legislation passed Tuesday, a $17 billion increase over 2018.
Funding for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments would total $178 billion, a small increase from 2018 but $10 billion more than Trump requested in his budget proposal for 2019. The Trump administration has objected to the increases in domestic budgets Congress is approving, but that’s the price Democrats exacted for agreeing to big military spending increases sought by Republicans and Trump.