WASHINGTON (AP) — House leaders on Monday unveiled a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package that’s carrying an unusually large load of unrelated provisions catching a ride on the last train out of Congress this year.
A House vote is slated for Tuesday on the sprawling package, some 2,313 pages long, as lawmakers wrap up reams of unfinished work — and vote on impeaching President Donald Trump.
The mammoth measure takes a split-the-differences approach that’s a product of divided power in Washington, offering lawmakers of all stripes plenty to vote for — and against. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was a driving force, along with administration pragmatists such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who negotiated the summertime budget deal that it implements.
Trump hasn’t said for sure that he’ll sign the measure. He invariably has second thoughts, but he’s not interested in another government shutdown and has always bowed to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., when they’ve teamed up on compromise spending packages.
Retired coal miners and labor union opponents of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health plans came away with big wins in weekend negotiations by top congressional leaders and the Trump White House. The bill would also increase the age nationwide for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21, and offers business-friendly provisions on export financing, flood insurance and immigrant workers.
The legislation would forestall a government shutdown this weekend and give President Donald Trump steady funding for his U.S.-Mexico border fence. The year-end package is anchored by a $1.4 trillion spending measure that caps a difficult, months-long battle over spending priorities.
The roster of add-ons grew over the weekend to include permanent repeal of a tax on high-cost “Cadillac” health insurance benefits and finance health care and pension benefits for about 100,000 retired union coal miners threatened by the insolvency of their pension fund. A tax on medical devices and health insurance plans would also be repealed permanently.
The deficit tab for the package grew as well — almost $400 billion over 10 years to repeal the three so-called “Obamacare” taxes alone — with a companion package to extend several business-friendly tax breaks still under negotiation. The Obama-era taxes have previously been suspended on a piecemeal basis.
The legislation is laced with provisions reflecting divided power in Washington. Republicans maintained the status quo on several abortion-related battles and on funding for Trump’s border wall. Democrats controlling the House succeeded in winning a 3.1 percent raise for federal civilian employees and the first installment of funding on gun violence research after more than two decades of gun lobby opposition.
The sweeping legislation, introduced as two packages for political and tactical purposes, is part of a major final burst of legislation that’s passing Congress this week despite bitter partisan divisions and Wednesday’s likely impeachment of Trump. Thursday promises a vote on a major rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement, while the Senate is about to send Trump the annual defense policy bill for the 59th year in a row.
The core of the spending bill is formed by the 12 annual agency appropriations bills passed by Congress each year. It fills in the details of a bipartisan framework from July that delivered about $100 billion in agency spending increases over the coming two years instead of automatic spending cuts that would have sharply slashed the Pentagon and domestic agencies.
The increase in the tobacco purchasing age to 21 also applies to e-cigarettes and vaping devices and gained momentum after McConnell signed on.
Other add-ons include a variety of provisions sought by business and labor interests and their lobbyists in Washington.
For business, there’s a seven-year extension of the charter of the Export-Import Bank, which helps finance transactions benefiting U.S. exporters, as well as a renewal of the government’s terrorism risk insurance program. The financially troubled government flood insurance program would be extended through September, as would several visa programs for both skilled and seasonal workers.
Labor won repeal of the so-called Cadillac tax, a 40% tax on high-cost employer health plans, which was originally intended to curb rapidly growing health care spending. But it disproportionately affected high-end plans won under union contracts, and Democratic labor allies had previously succeeded in temporary repeals.
Democrats controlling the House won increased funding for early childhood education and a variety of other domestic programs. They also won higher Medicaid funding for the cash-poor government of Puerto Rico, which is struggling to recover from hurricane devastation and a resulting economic downturn.
While Republicans touted defense hikes and Democrats reeled off numerous increases for domestic programs, most of the provisions of the spending bill enjoy bipartisan support, including increases for medical research, combating the opioid epidemic, and Head Start and childcare grants to states.
Democrats also secured $425 million for states to upgrade their election systems, and they boosted the U.S. Census budget $1.4 billion above Trump’s request. They won smaller increases for the Environmental Protection Agency, renewable energy programs and affordable housing.
“We are scaling up funding for priorities that will make our country safer and stronger and help hardworking families get ahead,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.
The outcome in the latest chapter in the longstanding battle over Trump’s border wall awards Trump with $1.4 billion for new barriers — equal to last year’s appropriation — while preserving Trump’s ability to use his budget powers to tap other accounts for several times that amount. That’s a blow for liberal opponents of the wall but an acceptable trade-off for pragmatic-minded Democrats who wanted to gain $27 billion in increases for domestic programs and avert the threat of simply funding the government on autopilot.
Because dozens of Democrats might vote against the border wall, Pelosi is pairing money for the Department of Homeland Security with the almost $700 billion Pentagon budget, which is guaranteed to win GOP votes to offset Democratic defections.
The coal miners’ pension provision, opposed by House GOP conservatives like Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., had the backing of Trump and powerful Senate GOP Leader McConnell and Trump. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was a dogged force behind the scenes and said the other leaders rolled the House GOP leader, who also lost a behind-the-scenes battle with Pelosi on parochial California issues.
“Something had to be done and we finally got Mitch McConnell to sign onto the bill,” Manchin said. “But we could not move McCarthy. Then finally we just had to move forward and they did it.”
Exclusive Video: Chaos Erupts in Texas Border Town as Los Zetas Cartel Attempts Complex Smuggling Operation
4:18
RIO BRAVO, Texas — Chaos erupted in a small Texas border town as Los Zetas smugglers launched a complex smuggling operation. Border Patrol agents responded to an illegal crossing that quickly tied up agency resources in the area, enabling smugglers to move higher-value cargo elsewhere.
What had only moments earlier been a quiet neighborhood became a scene of chaos as Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) helicopter aircrew leaped into action following the illegal crossing of a few migrants. Agents captured at least one in the presence of the Breitbart News team while the complex Los Zetas-connected smuggling operation unfolded.
Shortly after Breitbart News stopped at a well-known river crossing area in Rio Bravo, a monitoring Border Patrol agent quickly drove off in response to illegal activity. As the Breitbart crew followed, multiple Border Patrol vehicles responded and the AMO helicopter quickly appeared overhead to provide air cover and communications to the ground-based agents. Breitbart News witnessed the initial runner who led agents on a foot pursuit through the neighborhood.
“This is territory that is controlled by Los Zetas,” Breitbart Border and Cartel Chronicles Projects Director Brandon Darby explained. “This is a neighborhood that is a heavy smuggling neighborhood for Los Zetas.”
“We saw Border Patrol looking for someone, and there are multiple things going on,” Darby said describing the chaos that quickly erupted in the neighborhood. “What’s going on is they use one person to come in and run to distract the authorities while they are doing something else.”
During an April 2015 interview with Darby, Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza, speaking in his role as the then-president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2455, confirmed that the areas directly across the river from Laredo and its surrounding communities are controlled by the Los Zetas Cartel.
As Darby described the unfolding scene, he said, “What’s happening is people in the U.S. connected to Los Zetas and the Los Zetas smuggling operation is occurring. We’re getting to see the CBP response. We’re getting to see Air and Marine. We’re getting to see Border Patrol agents in action. And we’re also getting to see the cartel-connected smugglers and scouts in action in this U.S. neighborhood — Rio Bravo, Texas.”
A Breitbart News videographer captured the moment when Border Patrol agents and a Homeland Security Investigations special agent took one of the runners into custody. The situation became tense while processing the captured illegal alien as what appeared to be a scout vehicle pulled up directly behind the Border Patrol vehicle to document the situation.
“We’ve seen guys walk past on cell phones,” Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow recounted. “They’re eyeing us. They’re counting our cars. They’re counting how many people are here.”
“Some people are driving by and waving and acting nice,” Marlow explained. “Others are driving by and making very aggressive gestures.” He and Darby noted that many of the same vehicles drove by repeatedly. “We’re seeing a lot of action on these streets, where we had been driving all morning and there had been very little action … almost no pedestrians, almost no automobile traffic. Then, all of a sudden, this is the most happening neighborhood in town.”
Darby explained that the cartel smugglers set up complex operations like this where they run a few people across the border to tie up and distract Border Patrol resources. He explained the decoys provide cover for “a drug load or maybe they’re trying to cross a load of people who have given them money — who have given them a significant amount of money or agreed to pay a significant amount of money.”
“So they send one of their own, one of the neighborhood guys who can run fast,” Darby continued. “They send him across and get Border Patrol to look somewhere else, and they can get their load across.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for the Breitbart Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face book.
By Todd Bensman
"In 2016, according to my analysis of the data, more Americans were reported killed by homicide in Mexico than the combined total of Americans killed by homicide in every other country abroad." MONICA SHOWALTER
Mexico cynically wades into El Paso shooting debacle, brimming with hypocrisy
Part III: Like in Europe, America’s Broken Asylum System Enables Terrorist Infiltration Over the U.S.-Mexico Border
By Todd Bensman
Townhall.com
"In 2016, according to my analysis of the data, more Americans were reported killed by homicide in Mexico than the combined total of Americans killed by homicide in every other country abroad." MONICA SHOWALTER
Mexico cynically wades into El Paso shooting debacle, brimming with hypocrisy
As if the El Paso mass murder couldn't be a more noxious showcase for political bad behavior, in wades the Mexican government, launching lawsuits against the U.S. for supposedly failing to protect its citizens, which is something they've never bothered about before. According to NBC News:
Mexico on Sunday threatened to take legal action against the United States for failing to protect its citizens after this weekend's mass shooting in the border city of El Paso.
Of the 20 people gunned down at a Walmart at the Cielo Vista Mall, at least seven were Mexican citizens, and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard promised Mexico City will act.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry called the attack in El Paso a "terrorist act against innocent Mexicans."
Apparently, they've seen how their individual illegals can exploit loopholes in U.S. law to their advantage, and now that bastion of peace and tranquility to our south would like a serving of the same. Instead of warning Mexican potential illegals to stay out of the U.S. the way a normal country would do, they want to muscle the U.S. legal system to their benefit, creating a sort of right to protection in the U.S. which is something Mexicans certainly don't have back home.
And more to the point, the Mexican state would like to blame the U.S. for the action of the lone freak who shot up the Wal-Mart in El Paso, same as the average Democratic politician. The fact that the freak is going to the executioner's table is irrelevant, because what they're really after is putting the U.S. and President Trump in particular on trial.
According to a summary of their doings from Axios:
Mexico threatened legal action Sunday against the U.S. for failing to protect its citizens after a shooting in the border city of El Paso, Texas, killed 20 people, including 6 Mexican nationals, the New York Times reports.
Details: Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the Mexican government was looking into extraditing the suspect to Mexico on a terrorism charge over Saturday's shooting, per CNN. Mexico also plans legal action against the seller who provided the weapon used in the attack, according to the NYT.
What they're saying: Ebrard said in a Twitter video, translated by NBC News, that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to "ensure that Mexico’s indignation translates" into "expeditious and forceful" legal action for the country to take a role and demand that conditions are established that protect Mexicans in the U.S.
The big picture: Many Mexicans are aware of an anti-immigrant screed apparently posted online by the suspect just before the shooting and they see the attack as an expression of tensions between the U.S. and Mexico over immigration, guns and violence, often fueled by President Trump's policies and rhetoric, the Times notes.
On those grounds, any American who's attacked, assaulted, drinks poisoned liquor, or is killed in Mexico, should have grounds to do the same. Failure to protect, don't you know. Such irony. Turns out more Americans (75 of them) have been killed in Mexico than all the remaining countries of the worldcombined. Here's what Forbes reported last year:
In 2016, according to my analysis of the data, more Americans were reported killed by homicide in Mexico than the combined total of Americans killed by homicide in every other country abroad.
More than 31 million Americans visited Mexico in 2016, the National Travel & Tourism Office says, and State Department data shows there were reports of 75 American homicide victims there. In comparison, 49 million Americans traveled to all other foreign countries, and 69 were reported killed by homicide.
That's quite some hypocrisy they've got, given the number of American dead bodies they've got on their record. Think they'll go along with reciprocity? Not the Mexican government we know. The double standard stands.
But that's hardly their only hypocrisy. Here's another logic joke from them:
They encourage their nationals to emigrate illegally (remember the Mexican government comic books? Apparently, they're still distributing them) to get rid of potential discontents, and now they complain when the place, loaded as it is with unvetted migrants they don't want around, is somehow not safe? Any city loaded with illegals is a den of crime -- just look at the crime in Chicago, Baltimore or any sanctuary city. Apparently, those killings are O.K. by the Mexicans so long as they are done by other Mexicans or maybe Central Americans. But this Dallas-area white interloper doing the killing is something different, something sue-worthy? They've tolerated crime for years on both sides of the border, not doing a thing so long as the distilled remittances keep coming. Now at this late date, with this lone freak, they are suddenly upset.
Now for a third hypocrisy: They say they want to extradite the maggot? What the heck would that be for? Like El Chapo Guzman, he'd be in a fine position to continue his Internet postings in a Mexican prison because all kinds of contraband is tolerated in Mexican prisons, particularly cell phones, and anything can be bribed for. For that matter, he'd be in a great position to escape, much as Guzman did from Mexican prisons, more than once. The creep, under Mexican law, would also be spared the death penalty, something he's not going to be spared if he stays in Texas. It looks like this extradition move is some sort of revolting bid to save him and allow him to flourish. You can bet he'd be a happy camper if somehow he got extradited to Mexico. Sorry amigos: The maggot is going to pay.
What we are seeing here is plain old garden variety Mexican meddling in our internal affairs, this time rooted in some icky festering wounded national pride, some bid from Mexico to assert itself over U.S. laws in the wake of Trump's muscle on Mexico over the illegal migrant surge, using the U.S. courts with their continuous anti-Trump rulings to make itself the sovereign here. Mexico has already sent their illegals and now they want to take over gubernatorially through the courts, which puts this act on a continuum.
This garbage should be smacked down for the hypocrisy it is and as fast as possible. We don't need their government ruling over here and we sure as heck shouldn't be paying them.
Exclusive Video: Chaos Erupts in Texas Border Town as Los Zetas Cartel Attempts Complex Smuggling Operation
4:18
RIO BRAVO, Texas — Chaos erupted in a small Texas border town as Los Zetas smugglers launched a complex smuggling operation. Border Patrol agents responded to an illegal crossing that quickly tied up agency resources in the area, enabling smugglers to move higher-value cargo elsewhere.
What had only moments earlier been a quiet neighborhood became a scene of chaos as Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) helicopter aircrew leaped into action following the illegal crossing of a few migrants. Agents captured at least one in the presence of the Breitbart News team while the complex Los Zetas-connected smuggling operation unfolded.
Shortly after Breitbart News stopped at a well-known river crossing area in Rio Bravo, a monitoring Border Patrol agent quickly drove off in response to illegal activity. As the Breitbart crew followed, multiple Border Patrol vehicles responded and the AMO helicopter quickly appeared overhead to provide air cover and communications to the ground-based agents. Breitbart News witnessed the initial runner who led agents on a foot pursuit through the neighborhood.
“This is territory that is controlled by Los Zetas,” Breitbart Border and Cartel Chronicles Projects Director Brandon Darby explained. “This is a neighborhood that is a heavy smuggling neighborhood for Los Zetas.”
“We saw Border Patrol looking for someone, and there are multiple things going on,” Darby said describing the chaos that quickly erupted in the neighborhood. “What’s going on is they use one person to come in and run to distract the authorities while they are doing something else.”
During an April 2015 interview with Darby, Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza, speaking in his role as the then-president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2455, confirmed that the areas directly across the river from Laredo and its surrounding communities are controlled by the Los Zetas Cartel.
As Darby described the unfolding scene, he said, “What’s happening is people in the U.S. connected to Los Zetas and the Los Zetas smuggling operation is occurring. We’re getting to see the CBP response. We’re getting to see Air and Marine. We’re getting to see Border Patrol agents in action. And we’re also getting to see the cartel-connected smugglers and scouts in action in this U.S. neighborhood — Rio Bravo, Texas.”
A Breitbart News videographer captured the moment when Border Patrol agents and a Homeland Security Investigations special agent took one of the runners into custody. The situation became tense while processing the captured illegal alien as what appeared to be a scout vehicle pulled up directly behind the Border Patrol vehicle to document the situation.
“We’ve seen guys walk past on cell phones,” Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow recounted. “They’re eyeing us. They’re counting our cars. They’re counting how many people are here.”
“Some people are driving by and waving and acting nice,” Marlow explained. “Others are driving by and making very aggressive gestures.” He and Darby noted that many of the same vehicles drove by repeatedly. “We’re seeing a lot of action on these streets, where we had been driving all morning and there had been very little action … almost no pedestrians, almost no automobile traffic. Then, all of a sudden, this is the most happening neighborhood in town.”
Darby explained that the cartel smugglers set up complex operations like this where they run a few people across the border to tie up and distract Border Patrol resources. He explained the decoys provide cover for “a drug load or maybe they’re trying to cross a load of people who have given them money — who have given them a significant amount of money or agreed to pay a significant amount of money.”
“So they send one of their own, one of the neighborhood guys who can run fast,” Darby continued. “They send him across and get Border Patrol to look somewhere else, and they can get their load across.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for the Breitbart Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face book.
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