Sunday night, Congress reached a budget deal that funds the federal government through the end September which is also the end of the fiscal year.
The budget, which has a pricetag of over $1 trillion (approximately $700 million per page), is being touted as a bipartisan effort though conservatives are less than thrilled.
According to NBC, Democrats received their wishlist which included funding for Planned Parenthood:
The bill maintained funding for Planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities. It included money for Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program and a permanent funding stream for coal miners’ health insurance. It also directed money for the cost-sharing subsidies for low income people to purchase health insurance in the Affordable Care Act. All of these were Democratic demands.
The National Institute for Health, which Democrats were sure would suffer funding cuts, got a $2 billion boost. From the Washington Free Beacon:
The National Institutes of Health is set to get a $2 billion increase in spending under the congressional omnibus bill to fund the government through September.The spending is on top of the “huge increase” the agency received last year, and goes against President Donald Trump’s priority to cut the agency….Stat News reported that part of the $2 billion increase for the NIH would go to Alzheimer’s research and several of President Barack Obama’s “big science projects.”
In addition to the NIH budget buster, the bill permanently extends, “expiring health insurance benefits to coal miners, a major priority of senators from Appalachia,”
Senator Schumer (D-NY) praised the bill saying, “This agreement is a good agreement for the American people and takes the threat of a government shutdown off the table. The bill ensures taxpayer dollars aren’t used to fund an ineffective border wall, excludes poison-pill riders, and increases investments in programs that the middle-class relies on, like medical research, education and infrastructure,” Politico reported.
The bill bolsters defense spending by $25 billion, and allocates an additional $1.5 billion to border security, though no funding for a southern border wall was included.
Both VP Pence and Speaker Ryan spoke highly of the budget bill:
“We couldn’t be more pleased that, thanks to President Trump’s leadership and direct engagement last night at the White House, leaders in the House and Senate in both parties signed off on a budget deal. It’ll avert a government shutdown but more important than that, there’s going to be a significant increase in military spending,” Pence said on CBS “This Morning.”And in a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan said, “America will be stronger and safer because of this government funding bill. It acts on President Trump’s commitment to rebuild our military for the 21st century and bolster our nation’s border security to protect our homeland. Importantly, we have boosted resources for our defense needs without corresponding increases in non-defense spending, as Democrats had insisted upon for years.”
Basically:
Over $1 trillion and Democrats received everything they wanted. So much for draining the swamp.
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