What Is In the $1.2 Trillion House Spending Bill!

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The House rolled 12 spending bills into one big appropriations bill of $1.2 trillion yesterday and passed it by a vote of 211-198.

Speaker Paul Ryan states the bill includes:

  • Increased pay for servicemen and women
  • Strengthened border protections
  • Defunded Planned Parenthood [until December]
  • Fully funds Trump’s request to build a wall on the southern border [up to $1.6 billion]
  • Beefs up enforcement against illegal immigration
  • Rolls back regulations
  • Eliminates dozens of government programs

The Associated Press reported further:

House members spent the past two weeks debating the measure’s $500 billion for domestic agencies. GOP leaders then merged that domestic spending package with an earlier House measure that would give record budget increases to the Pentagon and provide a $1.6 billion down payment for Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border…

“It does everything from strengthening our national defense and veterans’ programs to cracking down on illegal immigration to protecting life to cutting abusive Washington agencies like the IRS and the EPA,” said the No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.

At issue are the spending bills passed by Congress each year to fund day-to-day operations of federal agencies. Trump, following the lead of budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former tea party congressman, pushed for a sweeping increase for the Pentagon and commensurate cuts of more than $50 billion from domestic agencies and foreign aid.

House Republicans have responded by adding even more spending on defense, but have significantly scaled back Trump’s cuts to domestic programs like community development grants and medical research…

…The House measure adds almost $9 billion to Trump’s funding request for medical research at the National Institutes of Health, rather than accepting sharp cuts recommended by Trump. It keeps as-is a $269 million subsidy for money-losing routes to rural airports that Trump had targeted. And it gives modest increases to GOP favorites such as law enforcement agencies and NASA.

But House Republicans voted to slash government accounts on studying climate change, eliminate Title X family planning funds, and sharply cut foreign aid accounts, though not as drastically as Trump proposed. A transportation grant program started by former President Barack Obama would be eliminated, as would hiring grants for local police departments.

After school spending also got a big boost.

The House approved new NYC rail lines/Gateway Tunnel.

House members who did not vote for it include: Amash, Biggs, Mo Brooks, Buck, DeSantis, John Duncan, Jones, Katko, LoBiondo, Massie, Messer, Rokita, Sanford, and Sensenbrenner.

Rep. Duncan sees one place that could be cut in defense.


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