House passes $1.3T spending bill
Senate faces Friday deadline to head off government shutdown
WASHINGTON – The House passed a mammoth $1.3 trillion spending bill Thursday less than 17 hours after releasing the 2,232-page proposal and over the fierce objections of conservative and liberal factions alike.
The House vote, 256-167, came after a limited debate and no amendments. Ninety Republicans and more than 70 Democrats voted against the bill.
The bill moves to the Senate, where lawmakers face a similar fight and a Friday midnight deadline before the government runs out of funding. If the Senate doesn’t pass the bill before then – and the chamber’s rules allow a single senator to delay proceedings – it will trigger a partial government shutdown. President Donald Trump has signaled he will support the bill.
The spending package would increase domestic funding by $63 billion over last year’s levels, or about 12 percent, and it would boost military spending by $80 billion, about 15 percent.
Overall, the new agreement would allocate $1.3 trillion to fund domestic and military programs through Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year.
Republican leaders touted the Pentagon budget increase as the key reason to support the bill – noting it’s the highest such single-year increase in 15 years.
“The fundamental question … in this bill is whether we’re going to preserve the primacy of the American military in the 21st century,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “What this bill is ultimately about is finally giving our military the tools and the resources it needs to do the job.”
Democrats highlighted the funding increases for domestic programs, including new money to fight the opioid epidemic, to help states with election security and to boost infrastructure spending across the country. The measure also includes funding for a tunnel between New York and New Jersey – a project Trump opposes.
The bill also includes a few items unrelated to spending, including a bipartisan proposal known as “Fix NICS,” aimed at strengthening the federal background check system for buying guns.
Conservatives support a boost in military spending, but they oppose the plumped-up domestic spending. Many also saw this must-pass spending bill as the only chance to achieve key campaign promises – such as defunding Planned Parenthood, ramping up immigration enforcement and expanding gun rights. None of those controversial items was included in the legislation unveiled Wednesday night.