Democrats FINALLY give Donald Trump money for his wall in deal to keep government from shutting but the $1.37 billion is a fraction of what he wanted and they got string of their demands in spending bill
- Democrats gave Donald Trump $1.375 billion for his border wall
- The amount is much less than the $8.6 billion the president requested
- A spending package was announced Monday to avoid a government shutdown
- In a victory for Trump, he does retain the power to transfer money from other accounts to build his wall
- The $1.3 trillion federal spending package also includes a 3.1 per cent raise for federal workers and $25 million in funding for federal gun violence research
Democrats gave Donald Trump $1.375 billion for his border wall in a spending deal announced Monday that will keep the government from shutting down at the end of this week.
The amount is much less than the $8.6 billion the president requested to build his nearly 2,000 mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border: $5 billion to build new barriers and $3.6 billion to backfill the money shifted from military construction projects last year.
‘I’m pleased that we have reached a bipartisan agreement that will keep government open, provide the certainty of full-year funding, and make strong investments in key priorities for American communities,’ said Rep. Nita Lowey, the Democratic chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Democrats gave Donald Trump $1.375 billion for his border wall
The money was announced in a budget deal released on Monday
A fight over funding Trump’s controversial wall – the biggest promise of his 2016 presidential campaign – was avoided by leaving it as status quo: the $1.375 billion is the same level of funding the president got for his wall in last year’s government spending bill, an amount that was agreed to after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The budgets for the immigration enforcement agencies — Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — are also basically at last year’s levels.
In a victory for the president, he does retain the power to transfer money from other accounts to build his wall although there is no mechanism in place to replenish any funds he takes.
The money is detailed in the series of appropriations bills to fund the U.S. government that were released Monday afternoon.
The legislation has to be passed by Friday to avoid a government shut down and both chambers of Congress are expected to approve them. It funds the government through its regular fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, 2020.
The $1.3 trillion federal spending package also includes a 3.1 per cent raise for federal workers, $25 million in funding for federal gun violence research and $425 million in election security grants.
The money for gun violence research is the first such allocation in more than 20 years.
The package also raises the national age for tobacco sales to 21.
Rep. Nita Lowey, the Democratic chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, took the lead on the funding fight for Democrats
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin helped sherpa the funding process for the administration
The more than 2,300 pages of bill text includes $7.6 billion to carry out the census in 2020.
Republicans touted an increase of $22 billion in defense spending. For Democrats, it includes record funding levels for Head Start, Child Care & Development Block Grant, and Title I schools.
Trump is expected to sign the spending package. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin helped sherpa it through the legislative process.