Previewing the Rest of the Senate’s Spending Bills
Vote to see how others feel about this issue
On Thursday, the Senate approved its latest “minibus” spending package which contained the eighth and ninth of the 12 appropriations bills that Congress enacts to fund various government agencies ― and it could pass another minibus with the final three spending bills as soon as the coming week.
While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hasn’t yet scheduled procedural votes to start consideration of another minibus bill, he could do so once senators have finished their consideration of a slate of 16 nominations to begin the coming week.
Here’s a look at the three remaining bills, which passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on an aggregate vote of 87-6.
Homeland Security: Funding for the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) would total $55.15 billion, an increase of $611 million from the prior year. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 26-5 vote and includes the following provisions:
- The Trump administration’s $1.8 billion budget request for construction of the border wall system would be fully funded.
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) budget would grow by $134 million to a total of $7.21 billion for FY2019.
- The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would receive funding to hire 1,450 more personnel to staff checkpoints and mitigate wait times, along with 50 additional canine teams.
Commerce, Justice, Science: Funding for the Justice and Commerce Departments, along with science-related agencies, would total $62.995 billion for FY2019 ― an increase of $3.4 billion from the prior year. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 30-1 vote and includes the following provisions:
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would receive $21.3 billion in funding, of which $6.4 billion would go to scientific research and $5.3 billion to exploration activities.
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would see its budget grow by $15 million to a total of $9.415 billion, while the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would see an increase of $44 million to a total of $2.23 billion.
- Justice Department grants for state and local law enforcement and crime prevention programs would total $2.87 billion.
State and Foreign Operations: The State Department would receive a total of $54.4 billion in FY2019 funding for its diplomatic and international assistance programs. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 31-0 vote and would include the following provisions:.
- Global health programs would total $8.8 billion, of which $6 billion would be focused on HIV/AIDS assistance and another $1.5 billion focused on maternal and child health programs in addition to combating malaria.
- International security assistance would total $8.8 billion, of which $5.9 billion would go to financing foreign military equipment and $1.4 billion to international drug trafficking prevention efforts.
- The Countering Russian Influence Fund would grow by $50 million from the prior year to a total of $300 million.
- Existing prohibitions on funding for abortion in foreign aid would be continued.
Tell your senators what you think of these appropriations bill and share your thoughts below!
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: iStock / pgiam)
The Latest
-
How To Help Civilians in UkraineHeavy shelling and fighting have caused widespread death, destruction of homes and businesses, and severely damaged read more... Public Safety
-
The Latest: Israel Evacuates Rafah, Palestinian Place of RefugeUpdated May 6, 2024, 12:00 p.m. EST The Israeli military is telling residents of Gaza who have sought shelter in Rafah to read more... Israel
-
Trump Hush Money Trial Enters Third Week, Strategy to ‘Deny, Deny, Deny’Updated May 6, 2024, 11:00 a.m. EST The criminal trial to determine whether Trump is guilty of falsifying records to cover up a read more... Law Enforcement
-
IT: Battles between students and police intensify, and... 💻 Should we regulate AI access to our private data?Welcome to Thursday, May 2nd, listeners... The battle between protesters and police intensifies on college campuses across the read more...