Congress Approves $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill, Averting a Shutdown

Congress gave swift approval to a $1.3 trillion spending bill that will keep the federal government open through September but broadly defies the Trump administration’s wishes to reshape it. The House voted 256 to 167 to approve the bill less than 24 hours after the spending plan, which stretched 2,232 pages, had been unveiled. The Senate voted 65 to 32 to approve the bill around 12:30 am on March 23. The spending bill provides big increases to the military and to domestic programs — and clearly rebuffs the Trump administration’s efforts to sharply scale back the reach and scope of the federal government. The bill funds the government for the 2018 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1 and is already almost halfway over. Congress paved the way for this week’s legislation with a two-year budget deal last month that raised strict limits on military and domestic spending by about $140 billion. Programs like the National Endowment for the Arts and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, far from being eliminated, were spared any reductions. Not only did the administration’s request for deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health go nowhere, but Congress gave the agency an additional $3 billion. As November’s midterm elections loom, the spending bill allows lawmakers from both parties to go home and claim success on a wide range of issues, including beefing up the military and providing much-needed funding for priorities like battling the opioid crisis and rebuilding crumbling infrastructure.