Senate Deal Provides $174k to Lautenberg's Millionaire Widow

A specific provision in the draft of the Senate bill to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News, provides for $174,000 to be provided to the widow of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), who died earlier this year and will be replaced after today’s special election.

The provision reads:

Notwithstanding any other provision of this joint resolution, there is appropriated for payment to Bonnie Eaglebardt Lautenberg, widow of Frank R. Lautenberg, late a Senator from New Jersey, $174,000.

The House of Representatives made similar provision in a draft bill to fund the government before the shutdown. The gift–equivalent to a year’s salary–is a tradition for congressional widows.