House and Senate lawmakers introduced a $1.3 trillion fiscal 2018 spending bill late Wednesday night, and hope lawmakers can pass it all in the next day or two.
The 2,232-page bill includes increased spending for military and domestic programs above current spending caps. The bill was introduced after the four top leaders in the House and Senate reached an accord early Wednesday over policy riders and border security funding.
Republicans and Democrats alike praised the legislation, even as it was criticized by some who said it’s unrealistic to choke down such a huge bill in a matter of hours.
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the bill “fulfills the pledge to rebuild the U.S. military,” and adds new funding for domestic programs “directed at securing the homeland, protecting our schools, and rebuilding American infrastructure.”
The bill provides $654.6 billion, including money for overseas war funding and the war on terror.
Democrats claimed victory on domestic spending and saw their party as the winner in a longstanding fight with the GOP and President Trump over his proposed southern border wall.
The bill includes more than $1.6 billion in border security funding, but prohibits a concrete wall or new wall technology touted recently by Trump during a border visit. Instead, the legislation would require Trump to use technology available when Congress passed the 2006 Secure Fence Act.
“Thanks to the leadership of Democrats, the omnibus proposal contains bold investments in our veterans, the NIH, community health centers, and families fighting opioid addiction,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday. “These job-creating, life-saving investments stand in sharp contrast to the Trump Budget.”
The House is expected to take up the legislation as early as Thursday. Passage is likely because of support from both parties, but there are sure to be big defections from the Right.
Many conservatives have vowed to vote against the bill because it busts the federally imposed budget caps and does not supply enough new funding for constructing a border wall, among other criticisms. The rushed process has also angered many Republicans.
Democrats may vote against the bill because it does not include their much-desired Obamacare subsidies.
A deal on Obamacare fell through because Republicans wanted to include language, or the Hyde Amendment, prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortion, a loophole they believe was left in the Obamacare law. Democrats refused to allow the language.
Republicans secured language bolstering the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. They coupled it with school safety language that will provide $2.3 billion for mental health, training, and school safety programs. The money will be divided between the Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services.
The bill excludes provisions limiting gun ownership, banning weapons or expanding background checks, which Democrats had been seeking.
It also leaves out direct funding for two New York tunnel projects Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had been seeking. That was expected because Republicans have banned earmarks for specific projects, and instead, the bill will allow New York to apply for funding grants for the project.
The bill includes $4 billion to help states battle the opioid epidemic and $600 million for a rural broadband expansion program.
Democrats and Republicans both touted $3 billion for the National Institutes of Health.
“Every bill takes compromise, and there was plenty here, but at the end of the day we Democrats feel very good because so many of our priorities for the middle class were included,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “From opioid funding to rural broadband, and from student loans to child care, this bill puts workers and families first.”
