A government shutdown was avoided in the signing of a new spending bill. Congress passed the bill on February 14 and President Trump signed it the next morning. The bill was in total 333 billion dollars with compromises on both sides over some controversial topics.
The bill passed through Congress with a clear majority. It was approved with a 83-16 vote in the Senate and a 300-128 vote in the House. One bipartisan effort in the construction of this bill was to give a pay raise to civilian government employees, some of whom have had the same salary since 2010. Civilian employees will receive a 1.9 percent increase starting with the paychecks from the beginning of 2019.
Opposition to the bill came from both parties, but the majority was able to get behind the principle of the bill and come to an agreement. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota voted no and spoke to this effect in a joint statement. “The Department of Homeland Security does not deserve an increase in funding”, they said.
The new budget gives 22.5 billion dollars to Homeland Security and 1.4 billion to build 55 miles of new border fencing in Texas. The Department of Homeland Security, DHS, will also have 100 million dollars for border technology. The President has demanded a barrier since the beginning of talks and democrats have wanted to spend money on better technology at ports of entry. The new spending budget does both creating a compromise deemed unlikely to happen by leaders of both sides.
Shortly after the spending bill was signed by the President, he announced he was declaring a national emergency at the border. This allowed him to fund the remainder of the border wall that the new spending bill did not cover. It is expected for the declaration to be challenged in court. “Hopefully we’ll get a fair shake, and we’ll win in the Supreme Court,” Trump said.
The new spending bill will keep the government open through September 30th and gives a guarantee to government civilians and government agencies such as the DHS and ICE. A billion dollars has been allocated to help with the 2020 Census, and both democrats and republicans got part of what they wanted on the southern border.
