Economy National Politics & Government

Congress Reaches Deal To Fund Government Through September

by Emma Bowman

Congressional negotiators are reporting an agreement has been reached on a massive $1 trillion-plus spending bill that would fund the day-to-day operations of virtually every federal agency through Oct. 1. The House and Senate have until Friday at midnigh
Congressional negotiators are reporting an agreement has been reached on a massive $1 trillion-plus spending bill that would fund the day-to-day operations of virtually every federal agency through Oct. 1. The House and Senate have until Friday at midnigh J. Scott Applewhite / AP

With a federal shutdown deadline looming, congressional negotiators have agreed on a new bill to keep the U.S. government open through Sept. 30, NPR's Susan Davis confirms.

Details of the deal are still emerging, but the plan does not include money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Lawmakers have until midnight on Friday to pass the deal to keep the federal government funded.

Last Friday, Congress bought a week's time to finalize the bipartisan agreement when lawmakers in the House and Senate approved a short-term spending bill that averted a shutdown that would have taken place Saturday — President Trump's 100th day in office.

The new agreement follows a tense week of dealmaking on Capitol Hill that led the Trump administration to concede on two sticking points.

On Monday, Trump dropped his demand that the spending bill include a down-payment for his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats, who flexed their leverage in spending negotiations, refused to support any bill that included wall funding. And on Wednesday, the White House said it would not stop paying federal subsidies to health insurers that help cover low-income Americans under the Affordable Care Act.

The agreement includes billions in funding for defense and border security, NPR's Geoff Bennett reports, but scraps some of Trump's key budget proposals, including his long-promised border wall with Mexico.

"The spending package also includes a nearly $70 million reimbursement to law enforcement agencies for costs incurred helping to protect President Trump and the first family," Geoff says.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi praised Democrats' wins, which included increased funding for Puerto Rico's Medicaid program and a $2 billion boost to the National Institutes of Health, which Trump proposed slashing. The spending bill also gives additional funding to combat opioid abuse and for summer school Pell Grants.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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