Senate Passes $1.4 Trillion Plan to Avoid Government Shutdown
The rare moment of bipartisanship came as lawmakers and voters are bitterly divided over Trump’s impeachment.
(Bloomberg) -- The Senate sent President Donald Trump two spending bills Thursday that would provide $1.4 trillion to fund the U.S. government through September and avoid a shutdown on Saturday.
The White House said Trump will sign the bills, which already passed the House, preventing a replay of the 35-day partial government closure he provoked last December over funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The bill to fund defense-related departments passed on a 81-11 vote. The other, to fund non-defense agencies and extend a number of expiring tax breaks, passed earlier in the day 71-23. Trump tweeted his praise for the spending bills and said he'll sign them on Friday.
The rare moment of bipartisanship came as lawmakers and voters are bitterly divided over Trump’s impeachment by the House on Wednesday.
While Republican and Democratic spending panel members hailed the bills for increasing military and domestic spending in line with a two-year budget plan enacted in July, the measures were opposed by lawmakers concerned about growing deficits.
Wall Compromise
The White House has indicated support because the spending deal keeps in place a compromise on the border wall. It provides the same $1.375 billion for the wall as in fiscal 2019 -- much less than the nearly $9 billion the president sought -- and leaves it to the courts to decide whether he can continue to raid military accounts for more funding over Democratic objections.
White House legislative liaison Eric Ueland said Trump will sign the measures and that “there is much in these appropriations bills that he supports.”
Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, pointed to the ability of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to negotiate a top-line budget level for the year in July as key to avoiding another shutdown.
Democrats didn’t agree to replenish $3.6 billion in military construction funds that Trump redirected to wall construction after the shutdown ended earlier this year and which is the subject of a nationwide court injunction.
The defense-related bill is H.R. 1158; the non-defense measure is H.R. 1865.
Extending Tax Breaks
The second bill is loaded with extra provisions sought by lobbyists -- including extensions of tax breaks and the repeal of some taxes to fund the Affordable Care Act. The measures’ tax provisions are expected to add $426 billion to budget deficits over the next decade.
“Christmas came early in Washington for lobbyists, for lobbyists who are bankrupting the country,” Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said in a video.
Budget watchdogs were outraged that Congress did not come up with a way to pay for the tax breaks.
“Congress and the president must pursue a clean appropriations process, free of gimmicks and unnecessary add-ons,” said Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Government. She said tax cuts and spending increases should be offset “and not allowed to further burden our kids and grandkids.”
The deal would extend a $1-per-gallon biodiesel tax credit and a break for short-line railroads through 2022. It would also renew more than two dozen incentives through 2020, including a credit for wind energy, a tax cut for beer producers, subsidies for motorsport racetracks, and a credit for investing in low-income communities.
No Solar Credit
The spending package doesn’t include an extension of a solar tax credit or an expansion of an electric car credit that were sought by Democrats but opposed by the White House.
The plan repeals a trio of Obamacare taxes, including the 2.3% excise tax on medical devices, a health-insurance industry fee starting in 2021, and a 40% excise tax on the most generous and expensive health-insurance plans, known as the “Cadillac tax,” which would have hit in 2022. Lobbyists for corporations and unions have sought the repeals for years.
A bipartisan attempt to end surprise medical bills was left out of the package in the face of a lobbying blitz.
The package also raises the age for tobacco purchases to 21, extends the U.S. Export-Import Bank for seven years and renews the National Flood Insurance Program through Sept. 30.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Laurie Asséo
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