The House took the first step and approved the funding bills on Dec. 17. President Donald Trump is “poised” to sign the bills when they reach his desk.

The massive government funding package, more than 2,300 pages long, was released a day before the House vote giving members virtually no time to read or offer amendments.

The package covers approximately $1.4 trillion in discretionary government spending that includes $738 billion in military funding and $632 billion in non-defense spending.

What’s in the Package?

The bipartisan spending deal agreed on by congressional leaders and the White House increases defense spending by $22 billion in fiscal year 2020 from last year. The funding boost will help the Pentagon’s modernization efforts, advance the F-35 combat jet program, and expand the Navy’s fleet.

The spending package also includes a 3.1 percent raise for both members of the military and federal civilian employees. In addition, for the first time in 20 years, it provides $25 million for gun violence prevention research. The deal also allocates $425 million for election security grants.

The age to purchase tobacco products is increased to 21 from 18, in the spending measure. In an effort to combat the youth vaping problem, the ban will apply to both cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The deal also reauthorizes the U.S. Export-Import Bank, providing it a seven-year mandate, the longest in the credit agency’s history.

The Trump administration has been urging Congress to revive the bank for both economic and national security reasons. Some Republicans and advocacy groups, however, have been opposing the bank, calling it “corporate welfare.”

There is a massive taxpayer-funded bailout of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) union pension buried in the deal as well. According to critics, this is the first of many more costly rescues.

“This will be the first time in history that Congress uses taxpayer dollars to fund the over-extended and under-funded pension plans of private-sector unions and private employers — in this case, to the tune of roughly $6 billion for coal miners,” Rachel Bovard, senior director of policy at Conservative Partnership Institute wrote in The Federalist.

One of the thorny issues in negotiations between the White House and Democrats was the funding for the construction of a wall along the U.S.–Mexico border. The deal awards the Trump administration more than $1.37 billion for the border wall—equal to last year’s funding level. This is significantly less than the $8.6 billion the president had requested.

The deal, however, is a win for Trump as it preserves his authority to transfer funds for the wall from other accounts. . . .

Trump is “poised to sign” the spending measures to keep the government open, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters on Dec. 17. . . .

In the three years since Trump took office, the administration has built 89.5 miles of border wall as of Dec. 6, a senior administration official told The Epoch Times.

In fiscal year 2020, the administration plans to build approximately 300 miles, with $8.6 billion from Homeland Security and Pentagon accounts, the official added.

Republicans managed to maintain the status quo in the abortion-funding battle.

In March, the Trump administration issued new rules to block the availability of Title X grants to clinics that provide abortions or offer abortion referrals. It also prevented foreign aid funds from going to organizations that perform or promote abortions overseas. Democrats had sought to reverse those prohibitions in the funding bills through “poison pill” riders, but failed.

However, “it’s not a total win” for Republicans, said Bovard. . . .

The package permanently repeals Obamacare’s three oft-postponed taxes: the “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health insurance plans, the tax on health insurers, and the medical device tax. These cost almost $400 billion over a decade, the report stated and tax extenders, as well as interest, add another $100 billion cost on top.

The Congressional Budget Office earlier estimated that the budget deal agreed to by congressional leaders and the White House would increase deficits by nearly $1.7 trillion over a decade, assuming that spending continues to grow at the rate of inflation beyond 2021.

(Excerpt from Epoch Times. Article by Emel Akan.)