U.S. Congress negotiators
set spending plan to avert shutdown, bolster defense
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[May 01, 2017]
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Negotiators in the U.S. Congress reached a deal late on
Sunday on around $1 trillion in federal funding that would avert a
government shutdown later this week, while handing President Donald
Trump a down payment on his promised military build-up.
The full House of Representatives and Senate must still approve the
bipartisan pact, which would be the first major legislation to clear
Congress since Trump became president on Jan. 20.
Prompt passage of the legislation was expected this week.
The funds, which should have been locked into place seven months ago
with the start of fiscal 2017 on Oct. 1, would pay for an array of
federal programs from airport and border security operations to
soldiers' pay, medical research, foreign aid, space exploration, and
education.
"The agreement will move the needle forward on conservative priorities
and will ensure that the essential functions of the federal government
are maintained, said Jennifer Hing, a spokeswoman for Republicans on the
House Appropriations Committee.

If it is not enacted by midnight Friday, federal agencies would have to
lay off hundreds of thousands of workers and require many others to
continue on the job providing law enforcement and other essential
operations without pay until the funding dispute in Congress is
resolved.
"This agreement is a good agreement for the American people and takes
the threat of a government shutdown off the table," Senate Democratic
leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
He said the measure would increase federal investments in medical
research, education, and infrastructure.
House and Senate appropriators worked into the night to draft the
legislation for lawmakers to review.
A senior congressional aide said the Pentagon would win a $12.5 billion
increase in defense spending for the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30,
with the possibility of an additional $2.5 billion contingent on Trump
delivering a plan to Congress for defeating the Islamic State militant
group.
Trump had requested $30 billion more in military funds for this year
after campaigning hard on a defense build-up during the 2016 election
campaign.
NO WALL MONEY
Several other important White House initiatives were rejected by the
Republican and Democratic negotiators, including money for a wall on the
U.S.-Mexico border that Trump has argued is needed to stop illegal
immigrants and drugs.


[to top of second column] |

U.S. President Donald Trump's overview of the budget priorities for
Fiscal Year 2018 are displayed at the U.S. Government Publishing
Office (GPO) on its release by the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) in Washington, U.S. on March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua
Roberts/File Photo

Instead, congressional negotiators settled on $1.5 billion more for border
security, including more money for new technology and repairing existing
infrastructure, the aide said.
Trump, in excerpts from a CBS News interview to air later on Monday, said a
separate infrastructure plan would come within three weeks.
The Trump administration had earlier backed away from a threat to end federal
subsidies for low-income people to get health insurance through Obamacare, the
program that Trump had pledged to repeal.
Republicans are struggling over a repeal and replacement plan for former
President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law and it was unclear whether they
would be able to bring such legislation to the House floor soon.
While Republicans control the House, Senate and White House, Democrats scored
other significant victories in the deal.
Puerto Rico would get an emergency injection of $295 million in additional
funding for its Medicaid health insurance program for the poor, according to the
aide who asked not to be identified. The impoverished island, which is a U.S.
territory, is facing a severe Medicaid funding shortfall.
Democrats also fended off potential cuts to women's healthcare provider Planned
Parenthood, while House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi applauded a nearly $2
billion hike in funds for the National Institutes of Health this year.

Coal miners and their families facing the loss of health insurance next month
would get a permanent renewal under the spending bill.
While Trump has urged Congress to impose deep cuts to the Environmental
Protection Agency, most of its programs would be continued for at least the
remainder of this year, according to the aide.
The House is likely to vote first on the package, probably early in the week,
and send the measure to the Senate for approval before Friday's midnight
deadline.
If the legislation is enacted by week's end, Congress would then have to begin
focusing on a series of bills to fund the government at the start of the next
fiscal year on Oct. 1.
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Paul Tait)
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