House Passes Year-End Spending Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown

The House of Representatives, in a 231-188 vote, has passed a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government running until mid-January.

The spending bill includes nearly $3 billion for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), $750 million for community efforts to combat diabetes, nearly $5 billion for the Department of Defense (DOD), as well as an extension for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) program.

Additionally, the spending bill, should it pass the Senate and be signed off on by President Trump, would allow Trump to sign the newly passed Republican tax cuts into law this week.

An unpopular amnesty plan for illegal aliens shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was not included in the year-end spending bill.

In the first month of the new year, however, a DACA amnesty plan is likely to be pushed by the Republican establishment and Democrats to be slipped into an omnibus spending bill.