Senate advances $1.4T spending deal in drive to adjourn
Source: AP
By ANDREW TAYLOR
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted to advance a $1.4 trillion government spending package in a last, bipartisan burst of legislating before bolting for the holidays from a Capitol that’s toxic with impeachment.
The first bill in the two-bill package, covering domestic programs, passed easily Thursday by a 71-23 vote, with a vote on a Pentagon and homeland security measure to come later in the day.
The legislation gives President Donald Trump a victory on his U.S.-Mexico border fence and gives Democrats long-sought domestic spending increases and a repeal of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health insurance plans. It blends spending increases for both sides — reelection fodder for lawmakers throughout the Capitol — with tax and benefit add-ons that will add roughly $400 billion to the deficit over 10 years.
The compromise bill would forestall a government shutdown this weekend, and the White House has announced Trump will sign it before Friday’s midnight deadline.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington is shrouded in mist, Friday night, Dec. 13, 2019. This coming week’s virtually certain House impeachment of President Donald Trump will underscore how Democrats and Republicans have morphed into fiercely divided camps since lawmakers impeached President Bill Clinton.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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