US$1.2 trillion spending bill heads to Senate - without protections for Dreamers or Robert Mueller
The bill does not protect Dreamers or Robert Mueller, as Democrats had hoped - but also provides far less than Trump wanted for his border wall
US lawmakers advanced a critical US$1.3 trillion federal spending bill on Thursday, as Congress sprints to avoid a another embarrassing government shutdown ahead of a rapidly approaching funding deadline.
US President Donald Trump has given his blessing to the bipartisan deal that negotiators clinched the previous evening, even though the White House acknowledged it did not fulfil all of their wishes.
Democrats will feel much the same way - as it lacks a number of their demands, including protections for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading up the Russia probe, and for ‘Dreamers’ - illegal immigrants brought into the US as children.
With a Friday midnight deadline looming, the catchall bill, known as an “omnibus,” comfortably passed the House of Representatives on a 256-167 vote.
“The House just voted to rebuild our military, secure our borders, and give our service members their largest pay raise in eight years,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said after the vote.
