House passes bill to avert government shutdown


The House joined the Senate on Thursday, passing a government spending deal that averts a government shutdown and includes $1.375 billion for new border fences, well below the $5.7 billion President Trump wants to fund barriers along the southern U.S. border.
The Senate passed the bill 83-16, and the House 300-128. On Thursday afternoon, the White House said Trump plans to sign the legislation, which prevents a shutdown that would start on Saturday and keeps the government open through Sept. 30, but will declare a national emergency in order to get the rest of the money he wants for the border wall.
Immediately, Democrats and some Republicans criticized the idea of declaring a national emergency, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) saying it's a "dangerous step" because "of the precedent it sets" and "because the president is going to get sued and it won't succeed in accomplishing his goal." In a joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said this would be "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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