WASHINGTON — Sometimes the last train out of the station can’t carry everything. That’s the case with the $1.3 trillion spending measure Republican and Democratic bargainers unveiled late Wednesday and plan to push through Congress this week.
The measure financing government agencies through September is likely the last must-pass bill lawmakers will consider this election year. Here’s a sampling of what made it aboard and what got left behind:
IN THE BILL
—$700 billion for defense: Bargainers said the Defense Department won $61 billion more than last year, the biggest annual defense boost in 15 years. More money for procuring ships, planes and equipment and a 2.4 percent pay raise for troops.
—$591 billion for domestic programs: That includes nearly $5 billion to battle abuse of opioid drugs, $3 billion more than last year; $21 billion for transportation and other infrastructure projects; and boosts for veterans, law enforcement and aid to states for child care.
—$1.57 billion for President Donald Trump to begin building his wall with Mexico and otherwise bolster border security.
—Gateway: $900 million is not specifically directed to a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River, as many New York area lawmakers — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. — wanted. Trump wanted to block it. But a Schumer aide said the project was in position to win more than half the money sought.
—Wildfires: Creates a disaster fund exceeding $20 billion over a decade to combat increasingly worse wildfires that have devastated the West in recent years.
—Guns: Incremental steps to curb violence. One measure pushed by second-ranking Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas and backed by both parties — and even the National Rifle Association — offers additional federal grants to prod federal agencies and states to send already required records to the federal background check system. Cornyn said it threatens to withhold performance bonuses from political appointees whose federal agencies lag.
—Tax fix: Republicans passed their $1.5 trillion tax bill so quickly last December that it’s studded with mistakes. A major one involves language inadvertently giving a tax advantage to farmers who sell crops to cooperatives instead of other buyers. Democrats who unanimously opposed the tax bill had little motivation to help the GOP fix its goof — but they did in exchange for expanded tax credits for low-income housing.
—Odds and ends: Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and James Lankford, R-Okla., cited money for states to buy new voting machines and conduct cybersecurity training. Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Doug Jones of Alabama claimed a win with more money for historically black colleges and universities. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said there was language forbidding employers from taking workers’ tips.
NOT IN THE BILL
—Helping Dreamers: Protections against deportation were not revived for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to this country illegally as children. Democrats backed the renewal and sought possible citizenship for the immigrants but were unwilling to pay the price the White House demanded: $25 billion for Trump’s proposed wall. Trump halted President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, though courts have temporarily kept it alive.
—Border security: No increases Trump wanted for additional border patrol agents or added beds for detained immigrants. No penalties for “sanctuary cities” that refuse to help federal authorities find immigrants here illegally.
—Buttressing Obamacare: Omitted were federal subsidies that Trump ended for insurers who lower deductibles and co-payments for lower-earning consumers, as required by Obama’s health care law. Also blocked: a new $30 billion, three-year program to help carriers cover their costliest customers. Both proposals, which had bipartisan support, were aimed at curbing the growth of premiums. Bargainers clashed over many differences, including proposed GOP abortion restrictions.
—Robert Mueller: Amid a stream of attacks by Trump on the special counsel’s probe of possible connections between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, there is no language making it harder for the president to fire Mueller.
—Policy fights: Democrats said they blocked more than 100 changes Republicans wanted. These included an easing of Clean Water and Clean Air act protections, halting funds for Planned Parenthood and relaxing rules for making unproven medications available to people with terminal illnesses.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
