House approves $1.3 trillion spending bill and sends it to the Senate as deadline approaches
House-approved budget would funnel millions to tri-county area
WASHINGTON – A $1.3 trillion spending bill was approved by the House and sent to the Senate on Thursday after a flurry of unsuccessful Democratic efforts to stall it and force legislators to take up a measure to protect young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
The vote came as legislators faced a deadline of Friday for a government shutdown. It also came just hours after the release of the 2,232-page bill, meaning that few voting on the bill had a clear idea of what it included, as several members openly admitted.
The measure passed 256-167. The Senate began debating the bill Thursday afternoon and is expected to pass it.
But objections from Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., over the speed at which leaders are trying to push through the bill were threatening to prevent the Senate from holding a final vote until the weekend.
That raised the prospect of another short-term government shutdown – the third this year – since funding will run out Friday. Paul forced a similar hourslong shutdown in February over a similar complaint that leaders were ramming through a complicated bill. He can’t block passage, but under Senate rules he can slow the process.
Supporters of the bill said it was the best possible outcome in the current partisan climate.
“It is no way a perfect bill,” Rep. Pete Sessions, R-texas, said as he introduced it as a bipartisan achievement. “That, I think I learned a long time ago, is hard to get through and signed by the president.”
Before the vote, Democrat Steny Hoyer of jhice@appealdemocrat.com
The U.S. House passed a $1.3 trilllion spending package Thursday that would funnel millions to the tri-county area, officials say.
The Appropriations Act, also known as House Resolution 1625, will provide funding to Beale Air Force Base operations and infastructure, rural communities, Sites Reservoir and local flood control.
Local U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, a Walnut Grove Democrat, said it’s great news for the area.
“This is essential money,” Garamendi said. “I am very pleased.” The breakdown, according to his staff:
Beale Air Force Base: A portion of the billions going toward the Department of Defense Programs will be allocated toward Beale, sustaining the U-2 and Global Hawk missions. Garamendi’s office said Beale will not have to worry about a potential Base Realignment and Closure for at least two years.
Rural communities: About $600 million will be allocated to the Community Connect Grant Program through the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, allowing counties to apply for rural broadband internet. Garamendi’s office said they will help local governments in Yuba, Sutter and Colusa counties to prepare applications.
Sites Reservoir: $4.3 million will be used to complete the feasability studies of the Sites
Maryland hefted a foottall stack of papers that, along with a second similar-sized stack, represented the bill and its back-up documentation. He slammed them onto a table.
“I ask any member, any member of this House, to join me in the well if you’ve read this bill,” Hoyer thundered as he demanded a delay in the voting. “No one is joining me. Ladies and gentlemen of America, I have not read this bill.”
Democrats sought to derail the measure to force the House to vote on their long-delayed effort to protect the young immigrants, known as “Dreamers,” from deportation. They had been protected Reservoir that will be available for public comment. “This money will keep us on track and in the approriate time frame,” Garamendi said.
Sites is an off-stream reservoir proposed in Colusa/glenn counties.
Local flood control: The remaining five miles of the Feather River levee system would be repaired, Garamendi said. That includes funds that go directly toward The U.S. Army Corps of Enginners.”we have gone from a situation where there was no money at the federal level for flood control in the region, and now there are opportunities,” Garamendi’s office stated.
Neighboring Congressman Doug Lamalfa, Republican of Richvale, said he appreciates items that will be funded and ultimately wishes other items were included.
“There are provisions I’ve fought to include in this bill that will greatly benefit the North State, including language I authored to cut down on wildfires caused by downed power lines,” Lamalfa said in a statement. “These are provisions I want to support, but at the end of the day, the level of spending is too high to justify,” he added.
Lamalfa also said in a statement that he wishes the funds also covered security at the state’s borders and “crackdown on dangerous sanctuary city policies.”
Specific dollar amounts toward each program will be discussed and posted at a later date, Garamendi’s office said.
Contact Jessica at 749-4786 or follow her on Twitter @Jess_hice.
by an Obama administration program that President Donald Trump canceled, but has been kept operating under a temporary court order pending legal challenges.
But no deal acceptable to Democrats, Republicans and Trump could be put together by the deadline for inclusion in the massive spending bill. Republicans have refused a simple up-or-down vote on protections for those immigrants, and Trump has demanded full funding for his proposed border wall as well as cuts in legal immigration.
“When will they have their moment of opportunity, a reprieve from worrying, from looking over their shoulders every
day?” asked Rep. Darren Soto, D-fla. “When will the Dreamers finally get to dream?”
House and Senate negotiators reached tentative agreement late Wednesday on a deal for the spending bill, which significantly boosts defense and domestic spending even as it puts off several issues on which legislators could not find a compromise.
Among the spending was what Republicans described as the largest boost to the military in 14 years, as well as additional money for domestic programs such as school safety, transportation, education, science and the financing of efforts to blunt opioid abuse.