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Deal reached on massive $1.1 trillion spending bill Deal reached on $1.01 trillion spending bill
(about 1 hour later)
Congressional leaders have reached agreement on a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill that will keep most of the federal government funded through next September. Congressional leaders unveiled a massive $1.01 trillion spending bill Tuesday night that will keep most of the federal government funded through September.
Months of protracted negotiations between Democratic and Republican leaders concluded on Tuesday night, with passage expected in the coming days, according to top aides. Final details of the legislation were still being sorted out and leaders were still mulling whether to approve a stopgap bill to give lawmakers a few more days to pass the final bill and avoid a government shutdown. The legislation is expected to pass in the coming days and will allow the new Republican-controlled Congress to clear the decks of lingering spending issues, while setting the stage for a prolonged fight with President Obama over immigration policy.
Extending current funding for just a few days has happened before, but doing so this year would result in an embarrassing finale to one of the most fruitless congressional sessions in history. At 1,603 pages, the legislation provides money to fight the rise of the Islamic State and $5.4 billion to fight the threat of Ebola. But there is no additional money for the Affordable Care Act and there are modest spending cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency and Internal Revenue Service, two perennial GOP targets. Still, Democrats won bigger budgets for enforcement at agencies created after the 2008 economic collapse.
With just two days to go before government funding expires, “There’s no reason the government should shut down,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday. “And we’re ready to pass a year-long spending bill to take care of this.” House leaders said they will introduce a stopgap bill to give the House and Senate more time to pass the final bill and avoid a government shutdown Thursday night. Extending current funding for just a few days has happened before, but doing so again this year would provide an embarrassing climax to one of the most fruitless congressional sessions in history.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) assured reporters that the bill would pass “before we leave here this week.” “There’s no reason the government should shut down,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday. “And we’re ready to pass a year-long spending bill to take care of this.”
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) joked that last-minute drama with the spending plan “is a Christmas tradition,” but added: “I don’t see it getting derailed. I think it could get slowed down, but I think it will ultimately get across the finish line.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) provided assurances that the bill would pass “before we leave here this week.”
Once the bill is released late Tuesday, House Republicans will have to wait until Thursday morning to hold a vote as part of their rule requiring legislation to be considered for at least part of three days before a vote is held. But that would give negotiators just a few hours to earn a rare unanimous consent vote in the Senate to bypass the normal rules and quickly approve the bill, increasing the likelihood that lawmakers will pass a stopgap bill and work through the weekend, if needed. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the third-ranking GOP senator, joked that last-minute drama with the spending plan “is a Christmas tradition.” But, he added, “I don’t see it getting derailed. I think it could get slowed down, but I think it will ultimately get across the finish line.”
In the House, top GOP leaders plan to use Wednesday to build support for the legislation, especially among conservative lawmakers who have bucked House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) in the past. Boehner has vowed to adjourn the House by Thursday and has predicted that the bill will ultimately pass with broad bipartisan support. The $1.01 trillion agreement hews to spending caps agreed to by the White House and lawmakers last year. It includes $521 billion in military spending and $492 billion for other federal agencies. An additional $64 billion would be set aside for overseas military operations, including the fight against the Islamic State and to assist European countries facing Russian aggression.
Congressional leaders originally hoped to release the spending bill Monday night, but last-minute attempts to add language renewing a government-backed terrorism insurance program delayed the release. By Tuesday afternoon, leaders had dropped plans to include an extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act in the bill, opting instead to move it as separate legislation. The National Football League and the powerful insurance, construction and hospitality industries have been pushing for Congress to renew the program before it expires on Dec. 31. The legislation would provide full funding for 11 of the 12 appropriations bills Congress is supposed to pass each year. But Republicans insisted on extending funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over immigration enforcement, just until late February. Doing so will give Republicans more time to craft a legislative response to Obama’s decision to use his executive authority to change immigration policy.
Many of the spending bill’s biggest provisions are already set in stone thanks to spending caps agreed to by the White House and lawmakers last year. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), who led the talks as heads of the Senate and House and Appropriations committees, described the agreement as a fair deal for both sides.
The agreement is expected to include most of the money President Obama requested to fight Ebola, but it is expected to slash funding for changes to school lunch programs that are backed by first lady Michelle Obama. “While not everyone got everything they wanted, such compromises must be made in a divided government,” they said in a joint statement. “These are the tough choices that we must make to govern responsibly and do what the American people sent us here to do.”
Several congressional Democrats said their support for the legislation was dependent on whether Republicans try tucking any policy “riders” into the bill. The bill authorizes a 1 percent pay raise for military service members but says nothing about a pay raise for civilian federal workers. In response to recent scandals, there would once again be bans and limitations on certain federal agency conferences and employee awards.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s nonvoting Democratic representative, and other Democrats were warning they would vote against the bill if it puts any restrictions on the District’s plans to legalize marijuana possession, which city voters approved last month. At domestic agencies, the EPA’s budget would be cut by $60 million, and the IRS would lose $345.6 million, according to GOP negotiators. The nation’s tax agency also would be banned from targeting organizations seeking tax-exempt status based on their ideological beliefs.
The bill could create a level of chaos in the District, legalizing possession and home cultivation of the plant, but prohibiting the city from spending additional resources to set up a regulatory framework to allow for legal sale and taxation of pot. The bill is packed with policy instructions, called “riders,” that were the subject of months of discussions between Democrats and Republicans. The Obama administration would once again be blocked from transferring terrorism detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into the United States. And the federal government would be banned from adding sage-grouse, a bird found in many Western states, to the endangered species list.
In a blow to the District of Columbia, Congress would block sales of marijuana but allow city officials to implement a law approved by voters last month that allows for possession of up to two ounces of pot and home cultivation of up to three mature cannabis plants.
Reid told reporters Tuesday that he opposes putting any restrictions on the District’s new marijuana program, but conceded that it may be difficult to remove such language from the final bill.Reid told reporters Tuesday that he opposes putting any restrictions on the District’s new marijuana program, but conceded that it may be difficult to remove such language from the final bill.
“The District of Columbia should do what they want to do,” he said.“The District of Columbia should do what they want to do,” he said.
Aaron Davis contributed to this report.Aaron Davis contributed to this report.