Congress passes government spending bill, focus now on Trumpcare
By Conor Coyle
Date: Thursday 04 May 2017
(ShareCast News) - The US House of Representatives voted to pass legislation overnight which will fund the federal government with $1.1trn through to the end of September, narrowly averting a shutdown on Friday.
The legislation is the first major bipartisan bill to be pushed through Congress during Donald Trump's presidency.
Representatives voted to pass the bill 309-118 in the Republican-dominated chamber, which will now go to the Senate where it is widely expected to be approved.
Although the bill excluded a number of the President's top priorities, House speaker Paul Ryan hailed the bill's passing as a victory for conservatives.
"No longer will the needs of our military be held hostage by the demands for more domestic spending," Ryan said. "In my mind, that is what's most important here."
The bill excluded funding for the Mexican border wall and the $18bn of domestic spending cuts Trump wants.
On the plus side for the GOP, $21bn of extra defence spending, including $6bn pencilled in under the Obama administration, was passed, along with $1.5bn for border security, a denial of new money for Obamacare and job cuts to for the Environmental Protection Agency.
HEALTHCARE VOTE
Meanwhile, on Thursday the House will face another significant vote. This time it is the turn of a revised health care bill that was previously voted down in an embarrassing defeat for Trump, who had promised to repeal the landmark Obamacare legislation of his predecessor.
Lawmakers in Washington were busy negotiating on several facets of the new bill, with a deal announced on Wednesday appearing to have support of most high-profile Republicans in the House.
Majority leader Kevin McCarthy emerged from a series of meetings late on Wednesday night in a confident mood, saying that "we will be voting on the health care votes tomorrow. Because we have enough votes. It'll pass."
A White House official Wednesday night claimed at least 218 votes, which would be enough to ensure passage.
Barack Obama introduced the Affordable Care Act to plenty of scorn from those on the Republican side during his presidency, and the replacement and repeal of the healthcare legislation was one of the pillars of Trump's election campaign.
Even if the bill makes it out of the lower chamber of Congress, it remains a distance short of the votes needed to be passed in the Senate, where considerable opposition remains due to estimates showing Trumpcare would leave 24m more people without insurance within a decade and push up premiums for those on lower incomes.
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