Congress plans to unveil a massive bipartisan $1.3 trillion spending package Wednesday that will keep the government funded until the end of September.
That is if it can pass in time.
Lawmakers have agreed on funding levels for every corner of the government with $700 billion budgeted for defense and $591 billion slated for non-defense spending, but the legislation also is expected to include policy riders like a bill that incentivizes state and federal authorities to report more data to the country’s gun background check system — commonly known around Capitol Hill as “Fix NICS.”
Tight timing for votes
The rush now is to move the legislation as quickly as possible. Lawmakers have until Friday at midnight to pass the bill before the government runs out of money. The House is expected to vote on the plan later this week — likely Friday — but the main obstacle will be whether the Senate can move quickly enough to avert a shutdown given its rules. If one lawmaker objects, it could force Senate leaders to run out the clock and even face a temporary shutdown into the weekend.
A Senate GOP aide says if the House passes the bill Thursday, the Senate could take it up later that day. But passage probably wouldn’t take place until at least Friday. The aide didn’t know of any senators wanting to put up procedural hurdles that could slow walk the bill past the Friday funding deadline.
House Republicans leaders are discussing the possibility of waiving the so-called “three-day rule” and holding a vote on the package as soon as Thursday, according to one aide, though nothing has been decided yet.
Democratic and Republican leaders huddled Wednesday morning to put the finishing touches on the bill.
“We hope we’ll be ready to go in two hours,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday morning following the meeting between leaders in Speaker Paul Ryan’s office.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky who forced a brief shutdown in February because of his opposition to a spending bill, said he has not made a decision about whether he would hold up this proposal.
“I haven’t made a decision yet about whether or not I’ll consent to time agreements, ” he told reporters Tuesday.
The release of the legislation was delayed as negotiators spent the early part of the week haggling over controversial policy riders on immigration, infrastructure and health care. What was expected to be a bill released Monday dragged into Wednesday.
Background checks, school safety funding and Gateway
The bill is expected to include more than just spending, however. The legislation, according to sources familiar, includes key policy wins for both sides including more money for school safety and FIX NICS, a top priority for Sen. John Cornyn, the majority whip and Republican from Texas. Democrats support the bill, but had hoped that the legislation would be coupled with more robust gun control measures rather than just tucked in the omnibus.
The spending bill is also expected to include additional money that could be used to fund a controversial New York and New Jersey infrastructure project. The project known as Gateway was a top aim for Schumer, but had faced obstacles after President Donald Trump said he was opposed to it.
Trump will be briefed Wednesday afternoon on the giant omnibus government spending bill that is set to be unveiled, a senior administration official tells CNN.
The official said there are some “sticking points” for the White House in the omnibus bill but declined to detail what those issues may be.
What else is and isn’t in the bill?
Aides familiar with negotiations tell CNN to expect a fix to the GOP’s tax bill that had incentivized grain farmers to sell their product to co-ops at a disadvantage to other private buyers. In exchange, Democrats will get a boost in the affordable housing tax credit.
The legislation also is expected to include additional money to fight the opioid epidemic across the country as well as more money for veteran’s hospitals, Child Care Development Block Grants and infrastructure funding.
But the bill isn’t expected to deliver everything.
Lawmakers worked for months to find consensus on immigration particularly the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But, despite some negotiations with the White House at the last minute, there was no deal. The White House offered to continue the program for two and a half years in exchange for $25 billion in border security, but Democrats argued they wanted a more prominent solution. Democrats offered the White House $25 billion in border security in exchange for a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million DACA eligible individuals. The White House passed. In the end, all that is slated to be included is $1.6 billion in border security, which includes millions for 33 miles of new border fencing that was already authorized through the 2006 Secure Fence Act.
Also expected to be left out of the bill is a health care market stabilization bill authored by GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Susan Collins of Maine, which aimed to lower premiums. Democrats wouldn’t agree to abortion-restriction language in the proposal and some conservatives in Congress had expressed concerns about anything that bolstered Obamacare, a law they’d tried to repeal.
