By Wire Reports
December 17, 2019
WASHINGTON
(AP) — House leaders unveiled a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package
with an unusually large load of unrelated provisions catching a ride on the
last train out of Congress this year.
A House
vote was slated for Tuesday on the sprawling package, some 2,313 pages long, as
lawmakers wrap up reams of unfinished work — and vote on impeaching President
Donald Trump.
The
financial services industry comes out a winner with the inclusion of the
Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 in
the 2020 spending package.
Supporters
say the SECURE Act expands opportunities for workers to obtain guaranteed
lifetime income products, increases the age at which required minimum
distributions must be taken from retirement accounts and repeals the age limit
for IRA contributors.
The
American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) estimates that SECURE will result in
700,000 additional American workers saving for retirement.
“The
SECURE Act is an important piece of legislation that helps small businesses
provide robust benefits for their employees and gives Americans incentives to
take responsibility for their retirement financial security,” said Kevin
Mayeux, CEO of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
Shutdown
Averted
The
spending legislation would forestall a government shutdown this weekend and
give Trump steady funding for his U.S.-Mexico border fence. The year-end
package is anchored by a $1.4 trillion spending measure that caps a difficult,
months-long battle over spending priorities.
The
mammoth measure made public Monday takes a split-the-differences approach
that's a product of divided power in Washington, offering lawmakers of all
stripes plenty to vote for — and against. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
was a driving force, along with administration pragmatists such as Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who negotiated the summertime budget deal that it
implements.
Trump
hasn't said for sure that he'll sign the measure. He invariably has second
thoughts, but he's not interested in another government shutdown and has always
bowed to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., when they've
teamed up on compromise spending packages.
Retired
coal miners and labor union opponents of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health
plans came away with big wins in weekend negotiations by top congressional
leaders and the Trump White House. The bill would also increase the age
nationwide for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21, and offers
business-friendly provisions on export financing, flood insurance and immigrant
workers.
The
roster of add-ons grew over the weekend to include permanent repeal of a tax on
high-cost “Cadillac” health insurance benefits and finance health care and
pension benefits for about 100,000 retired union coal miners threatened by the
insolvency of their pension fund. A tax on medical devices and health insurance
plans would also be repealed permanently.
The
deficit tab for the package grew as well — almost $400 billion over 10 years to
repeal the three so-called “Obamacare” taxes alone — with a companion package
to extend several business-friendly tax breaks still under negotiation. The
Obama-era taxes have previously been suspended on a piecemeal basis.
The
legislation is laced with provisions reflecting divided power in Washington.
Republicans maintained the status quo on several abortion-related battles and
on funding for Trump's border wall. Democrats controlling the House succeeded
in winning a 3.1 percent raise for federal civilian employees and the first
installment of funding on gun violence research after more than two decades of
gun lobby opposition.
The
sweeping legislation, introduced as two packages for political and tactical
purposes, is part of a major final burst of legislation that's passing Congress
this week despite bitter partisan divisions and Wednesday's likely impeachment
of Trump. Thursday promises a vote on a major rewrite of the North American
Free Trade Agreement, while the Senate is about to send Trump the annual
defense policy bill for the 59th year in a row.
The
core of the spending bill is formed by the 12 annual agency appropriations
bills passed by Congress each year. It fills in the details of a bipartisan
framework from July that delivered about $100 billion in agency spending
increases over the coming two years instead of automatic spending cuts that
would have sharply slashed the Pentagon and domestic agencies.
The
increase in the tobacco purchasing age to 21 also applies to e-cigarettes and
vaping devices and gained momentum after McConnell signed on.
Other
add-ons include a variety of provisions sought by business and labor interests
and their lobbyists in Washington.
For
business, there's a seven-year extension of the charter of the Export-Import
Bank, which helps finance transactions benefiting U.S. exporters, as well as a
renewal of the government's terrorism risk insurance program. The financially
troubled government flood insurance program would be extended through
September, as would several visa programs for both skilled and seasonal
workers.
Labor
won repeal of the so-called Cadillac tax, a 40% tax on high-cost employer
health plans, which was originally intended to curb rapidly growing health care
spending. But it disproportionately affected high-end plans won under union
contracts, and Democratic labor allies had previously succeeded in temporary
repeals.
Democrats
controlling the House won increased funding for early childhood education and a
variety of other domestic programs. They also won higher Medicaid funding for
the cash-poor government of Puerto Rico, which is struggling to recover from
hurricane devastation and a resulting economic downturn.
While
Republicans touted defense hikes and Democrats reeled off numerous increases
for domestic programs, most of the provisions of the spending bill enjoy
bipartisan support, including increases for medical research, combating the
opioid epidemic, and Head Start and childcare grants to states.
Democrats
also secured $425 million for states to upgrade their election systems, and
they boosted the U.S. Census budget $1.4 billion above Trump's request. They
won smaller increases for the Environmental Protection Agency, renewable energy
programs and affordable housing.
“We are
scaling up funding for priorities that will make our country safer and stronger
and help hardworking families get ahead,” said House Appropriations Committee
Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.
The
outcome in the latest chapter in the longstanding battle over Trump's border
wall awards Trump with $1.4 billion for new barriers — equal to last year's
appropriation — while preserving Trump's ability to use his budget powers to
tap other accounts for several times that amount. That's a blow for liberal
opponents of the wall but an acceptable trade-off for pragmatic-minded
Democrats who wanted to gain $27 billion in increases for domestic programs and
avert the threat of simply funding the government on autopilot.
Because
dozens of Democrats might vote against the border wall, Pelosi is pairing money
for the Department of Homeland Security with the almost $700 billion Pentagon
budget, which is guaranteed to win GOP votes to offset Democratic defections.
The
coal miners' pension provision, opposed by House GOP conservatives like
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., had the backing of Trump and powerful
Senate GOP Leader McConnell and Trump. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was a dogged
force behind the scenes and said the other leaders rolled the House GOP leader,
who also lost a behind-the-scenes battle with Pelosi on parochial California
issues.
“Something
had to be done and we finally got Mitch McConnell to sign onto the bill,”
Manchin said. “But we could not move McCarthy. Then finally we just had to move
forward and they did it.”
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