US$1.2-trillion budget
WASHINGTON, DC, USA (AP) — The Republican-led House yesterday passed a sweeping $1.2-trillion spending bill that provides billions more dollars for the military while sparing medical research and popular community development programmes 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 September 30. Even though the Senate still must act, the Government will keep operating through December 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 downpayment for Trump’s wall along the US-Mexico border that he repeatedly has insisted Mexico would finance.
“It does everything from strengthening our national defence and veterans’ programmes 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. Speaker Paul Ryan R-Wis, praised a pay raise for the military, border security funding, and “defunding” Planned Parenthood as victories for Republicans and Trump.
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 US$50 billion from domestic agencies and foreign aid.