The House just passed a 1.2 Trillion Dollar spending bill and here’s what’s in it…

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

Paul Ryan says this is a big day for the House:

In the video above he says they:

  • Raised the pay for servicemen and women
  • Strengthened our border protections
  • Defunded Planned Parenthood

I’m glad they defunded Planned Parenthood, but for how long? Just until December?

Earlier in the day he said the bill would:

  • Fully fund Trump’s request to build a wall on the southern border
  • Beef up enforcement against illegal immigration
  • Include strong protections for life
  • Rolls back regulations
  • Eliminates dozens of government programs

Ok I know some of these are meaningless to you because they are extremely vague. But here’s one Congressman’s more detailed highlights of what is in the bill:

  • Rebuilds and Strengthens the Military
    Largest rebuild and increase in military funding since Ronald Reagan was president, providing an additional $68.1 billion to strengthen the military.
  • Funds Border Wall and More
    Fully funds President Trump’s request to begin construction of the border wall and provides funds to hire 500 new Border Patrol agents and 1,000 new ICE agents.
  • Defunds Obamacare
    Forbids funding for key parts of Obamacare, including prohibiting the IRS from implementing the harmful individual mandate.
  • Defunds Planned Parenthood and Protects Life
    Bars funding of Planned Parenthood, prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions and funding for any global health program that provides abortions, and stops Washington, D.C., from implementing its new law legalizing assisted suicides.
  • Guts Dodd-Frank
    Includes key provisions of the CHOICE Act, which will protect Americans’ financial future while eliminating unnecessary regulations so that more American families, entrepreneurs, and businesses can grow and thrive.
  • Protects Veterans
    Provides the highest level of funding ever for the seven million veterans who utilize the Department of Veterans Affairs, including funds for mental healthcare, suicide prevention, homeless veterans services and opioid abuse treatment.
  • Protects Americans from Unfair Trade Practices
    Holds countries like China accountable on trade by meeting President Trump’s funding request for trade enforcement agencies.
  • Reins In the EPA
    Cuts funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by $528 million, bringing its funding to the lowest level since 2008; Slashes outdated, unnecessary and harmful EPA regulations.
  • Overhauls the CFPB
    Brings the rogue Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which spends hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year without congressional approval, under the regular government funding process.
  • Eliminates Operation Chokepoint
    Prevents Department of Justice and Federal banking regulators from forcing financial institutions to terminate customer accounts for political reasons.
  • Safeguards America’s Sacred Relationship with Israel
    Maintains critical funding for joint defense and security programs.
  • Cuts IRS
    Slashes the IRS by another $149 million, bringing its funding to the lowest level since 2008; prohibits the IRS from interfering with the non-profit status of churches and other religious organizations.

Here’s an article from the AP that goes into some detail about the bill. I’ve highlighted a few items in the article:

ASSOCIATED PRESS – The Republican-led House on Thursday passed a sweeping $1.2 trillion spending bill that provides billions more dollars for the military while sparing medical research and popular community development programs from deep cuts sought by President Donald Trump.

The vote was 211-198 for the massive measure that wrapped the 12 annual spending bills into one in advance of the end of the budget year on Sept. 30. Even though the Senate still must act, the government will keep operating through Dec. 8, thanks to legislation Congress passed last week and sent to Trump.

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 that he repeatedly has insisted Mexico would finance.

“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.

Trump has taken a low-profile on budget issues other than the wall, however, and his administration has done little to fight for his spending cuts since they were unveiled.

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.

The limits imposed by a budget agreement threaten the measure’s sweeping Pentagon increases, which total about $60 billion above current levels and almost $30 billion higher than Trump’s budget. That would evaporate next year unless there’s a bipartisan agreement to raise them. A two-year agreement that eased those spending limits expires in September.

The legislation is laced with conservative provisions reversing Obama-era regulations, blocking implementation of the Affordable Care Act and defunding Planned Parenthood. But most such measures will be dropped — as in previous years — during subsequent negotiations with Democrats.

As the AP notes, this bill must go to the Senate and who knows what it’s going to look like once that happens.

Here are the 14 Republicans who voted against the bill:

Amash
Biggs
Brooks (AL)
Buck
DeSantis
Duncan (TN)
Jones
Katko
LoBiondo
Massie
Messer
Rokita
Sanford
Sensenbrenner

15 didn’t vote, including Bridenstine and Yoho.

You can see the full roll call here.


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.