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Lawmakers reached a bipartisan agreement that will fund federal agencies through September, avoiding a government shutdown. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
WASHINGTON — Congress will vote this week on a bipartisan bill that provides more than $1 trillion to fund the federal government through September and averts a shutdown at the end of this week.
The compromise, reached late Sunday and unveiled Monday, keeps spending within limits previously set by Congress with a twist — lawmakers increased a spending account set aside for combat operations that doesn't count against those limits. The bill would boost defense spending by $25 billion for the full 2017 fiscal year.
The House is expected to vote as early as Wednesday, with the Senate following quickly. Here's a look at the highlights of what is, and isn't, in the bill.
The bill includes:
- $15 billion of a $30 billion request from President Trump for extra funding for defense programs and combat operations
- $1.2 billion in additional funding for border security, which was part of a $3 billion request from Trump
- Nearly $296 million to plug an emergency budget shortfall in Puerto Rico so that the U.S. territory will not run out of Medicaid funding this year
- More than $1 billion for a permanent extension of health insurance benefits for retired union mine workers and their families
- $8.1 billion in disaster relief for states hit hard by floods, wildfires and other disasters in 2015 and 2016, including California, Louisiana, North Carolina and West Virginia
- $2 billion in additional funding for medical research at the National Institutes of Health
- Year-round Pell grants to provide 1 million college students with an additional average award of $1,650 to help pay for tuition
- $990 million in additional humanitarian aid to boost global famine-relief efforts
- $68 million to reimburse New York law enforcement agencies for the costs of helping the Secret Service protect Trump and his family
- $407 million in additional funds to fight wildfires
- $100 more to fight opioid addiction
The bill does NOT include:
- Trump's request for $1.4 billion to begin construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border
- Trump's request to cut non-defense spending by $18 billion
- Defunding Planned Parenthood
- Extra funding to hire more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents
- Restricting so-called sanctuary cities from receiving federal grants. These cities protect some undocumented immigrants from deportation.
- Any provisions that would have undermined the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare
- Dismantling consumer protections created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010
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