Conservatives blast $1.3 trillion spending bill, but can they stop it?

 

WASHINGTON — Conservatives blasted the $1.3 trillion spending agreement reached by congressional leaders late Wednesday, but it’s not clear if they have the votes to torpedo the bill before a funding deadline at midnight Friday.

The deal would would increase domestic spending by $63 billion over last year’s levels, or about 12 percent, and it would boost military spending by $80 billion, about 15 percent.

The House could vote on the measure as early as today, followed by the Senate later this week. The White House has signaled support for the bill. 

Congress must pass a new spending bill before midnight on Friday or it will trigger another partial government shutdown. Lawmakers have funded the government through a series of short-term spending bills, lurching from one shutdown threat to another for almost six months of the fiscal year.

The spending bill would provide the Pentagon its biggest budget hike in 15 years, something GOP leaders have touted as the key reason to support the bill. Democrats touted the increases in a bevy of domestic programs.

The measure includes new money to fight the opioid epidemic, help states with election security, and boost infrastructure spending across the country, including for a tunnel between New York and New Jersey that President Trump opposes. The bill would bolster border security by $1.6 billion, but that’s just a fraction of the $25 billion the president had sought. Trump’s requests for an increase in detention beds and interior immigration enforcement were also not included. 

The bill also includes a few items unrelated to spending, including a bipartisan proposal known as “Fix NICS,” aimed at strengthening the federal background check system. 

Fiscal conservatives support a boost in military spending, but they oppose the plumped-up domestic spending. Many also saw this must-pass spending bill as the only chance to achieve key campaign promises — de-funding Planned Parenthood, ramping up immigration enforcement, and expanding gun rights. None of those controversial items are included in the legislation unveiled Wednesday night. 

Within hours of the bill’s release, the hard-line House Freedom Caucus announced its opposition, all but ensuring that Republican leaders will need Democratic support to pass the bill in the House.

“This bill barely provides for border security, yet continues to allow federal dollars to flow to sanctuary cities,” the caucus said in a statement Wednesday night. “It includes the Fix NICS proposal without including reciprocity for Americans with concealed carry licenses … It also fully funds grants that go to Planned Parenthood while making no changes to reduce Obamcare’s burdensome regulations.”

When voters elected Republicans, “they probably didn’t think they were going to get the second largest spending increase in a decade,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the former chair of the Freedom Caucus, said in an interview Wednesday night. 

Jordan and a handful of other conservatives tried to amend the bill Wednesday night, to nix the gun checks provisions, to prevent federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood, and to bar federal money from so-called sanctuary cities that limit cooperation with immigration enforcement. All those amendments were rejected.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blasted members of his party for going along with the bill. 

It’s a good thing we have Republican control of Congress or the Democrats might bust the budget caps, fund planned parenthood and Obamacare, and sneak gun control without due process into an Omni…wait, what?

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 21, 2018

Paul caused a brief government shutdown last month when he opposed a sweeping budget agreement earlier this year. It’s not clear yet if Paul will try to filibuster this spending bill as well. 

Congressional leaders in both parties touted the spending bill as a strong compromise that would fund the nation’s most urgent priorities. 

“Today marks the beginning of a new era for the United States military,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “This critical legislation begins to reverse the damage of the last decade and allows us to create a 21st-century fighting force.”

“Every bill takes compromise, and there was plenty here,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “At the end of the day we Democrats feel very good because so many of our priorities for the middle class were included.”

Overall, the new agreement would allocate $1.3 trillion to fund domestic and military programs through Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year. 

Contributing: Nicole Guadiano and Michael Collins

Read more:

What’s in – and what’s out – of the $1.3 trillion spending bill

Congressional leaders unveil $1.3 trillion spending deal as shutdown looms

 

 

Article source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~/534215918/0/usatodaycomwashington-topstories~Conservatives-blast-trillion-spending-bill-but-can-they-stop-it/