$1.1 Trillion Government Budget Heads To Senate For Vote
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote to pass the House-approved $1.1. trillion spending bill to keep the government running through to next September and to avoid a government shutdown.
Senate leadership is on board with the bill, but there are a number of provisions that upset conservatives and liberals.
The House vote, 219-206, on the bill rolled back some regulations in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Consumer Protection Reform Act.
One of regulations cut was restricting derivatives trading to separate from regular banking which is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Derivatives trading was one of the types of risky trades playing a key role in the 2008 financial collapse. Placing derivatives trading with FDIC insurance protection means the U.S. taxpayer is again liable for a bailout if the financial crisis happens again.
Leading Democratic lawmakers fiercely criticized the roll back provisions and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said liberals were being "blackmailed" into voting for the measure simply to keep the government running.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also urged Democrats to oppose the bill, saying, "This is a democracy and the American people didn't elect us to stand up for Citigroup."
For Republicans, it was how to turn back the Obama Administration's plans for immigration reform. Initially they withheld crucial support to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which is primarily responsible for implementing Obama's executive order that could shield up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. Some conservatives believed Republicans should have risk shutting down the government to confront the president.
"This plan was put together after consultation with our members," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Thursday, reported The Associated Press. "And we worked through this process in a bipartisan, bicameral way."
That funding anyway expires for DHS in February, which means an anticipated battle over the president's immigration action in the next few months.
In addition to funding the government, the bill provides a significant infusion of cash to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as America's effort to combat Ebola. The CDC saw its budget increase by nearly $43 million to roughly $6.9 billion. Another $5.4 billion is set aside specifically to fight the spread of Ebola domestically and overseas.
The bill also bans the District of Columbia from legalizing marijuana for the majority of 2015, despite a ballot initiative that easily passed during the midterms, permitting recreational use of the drug.
Among other things, the bill beefs up security at American embassies and boosts funding for the Food and Drug Administration. The administration's efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison complex in Cuba, however, were denied once again, as lawmakers refused to allow the White House to transfer detainees inside of the country.
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