The House voted to approve a roughly $1.1 trillion spending bill which includes more than $15 billion in defense spending and $1.5 billion in money for U.S. border security. The measure is expected to come up for a vote later this week in the Senate ahead of a deadline to keep the government open past Friday.
The spending measure also contains nearly $5 billion domestic spending increases, including $295 million to help Puerto Rico continue making payments to Medicaid, $61 million to reimburse local law enforcement agencies for the cost of protecting President Donald Trump when he travels to his residences in Florida and New York, major priorities for Democrats. The bipartisan agreement comes after weeks of tense negotiations that briefly broke down after Trump insisted that the spending measure include money to begin building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump dropped those demands, clearing the way for a final deal.
Among the bipartisan wins is $100 million to combat opioid addiction and money to combat wildfires. Democratic and GOP leaders have boasted that the deal contains significant wins for each side but the partisan bickering is expected to begin anew in the coming weeks when negotiations begin on spending for the fiscal year that begins in October.
(c) 2017, The Washington Post · Kelsey Snell
