Trump backs $1.3 trillion spending bill in late-night tweet, looking on the bright side
There is something for most lawmakers to like in the must-pass omnibus spending deal released Wednesday night — with 2,232 pages and a $1.3 trillion price tag, there had better be. The bill features $80 billion above budget caps for the military and $63 billion more for domestic programs like infrastructure and medical research, and $4.65 billion to fight the opioid crisis. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had to run to the White House amid reports President Trump was balking, but one senior White House official tells The Associated Press that Trump was merely concerned that the details of the package weren't being optimally presented to the public.
On Twitter late Wednesday, Trump did his own sales pitch:
The $1.6 billion for the border wall comes with "some serious strings attached," The Washington Post notes. Less than half of the 95 miles of border projects will be for new barriers — and that includes $445 million for "levee fencing" in the Rio Grande Valley — with the rest earmarked to repair existing barriers, and "none of President Trump's big, beautiful wall prototypes can be built."
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The omnibus package also gives a 2.4 percent raise to military personnel and a 1.9 percent raise to civilian workers, increases funding for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, beefs up the federal background check system for gun purchases, allows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence, keeps the Johnson Amendment to prevent politicking at church, and orders the Secret Service to issue an annual report detailing travel costs for people under its protection, including the adult children of presidents. You can read more about what's in the bill at The Washington Post.
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