It�s not just about President Donald Trump�s border wall.
The border security issues that sparked a 35-day government shutdown are but one element of a massive $330 billion-plus spending measure that wraps seven bills into one, funding nine Cabinet agencies, including the departments of Justice, State, Agriculture and Commerce. End-stage fights over unrelated policy provisions produced a deadlock, so efforts to extend soon-to-expire laws like the federal flood insurance program were dropped.
Highlights of the measure, which runs 1,768 pages of legislative text and explanation, include:
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BORDER SECURITY, BUT NOT JUST BARRIERS
There�s nearly $1.4 billion for 55 miles of new barriers in Texas� Rio Grande Valley, well less than the $5.7 billion Trump wanted but only slightly below Trump�s original $1.6 billion request for 65 miles. There would be curbs on where construction could occur to protect environmentally sensitive areas.
The bill funds an average of 45,000-plus detention spaces for immigrants entering and living in the U.S. illegally, with flexibility to house even more. There�s more than $1 billion for other forms of border security, including improvements in surveillance equipment, hiring 600 additional customs officers, more immigration judges and $414 million in humanitarian aid for unauthorized immigrants who are detained.
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A BILLION HERE, A BILLION THERE
Most of the bill deals with spending minutia such as a $1 billion increase to gear up for the 2020 census, an almost 4 percent budget increase for NASA and an $11.3 billion budget for the IRS. Most agencies are kept relatively level compared to last year, and the measure rejects big spending cuts � such as a $12 billion cut to foreign aid and the State Department � proposed by Trump.
It funds a new $435 million Homeland Security Department office to counter weapons of mass destruction, $550 million for rural broadband service, $468 million to combat the opioid epidemic above what was passed in legislation last year, $6 billion to combat HIV/AIDS overseas, and Israel�s annual $3.3 billion military aid package. There�s $3 billion to help state and local law enforcement, money for the Coast Guard�s first new icebreaker in four decades, increases for roads and mass transit, and money for clean air and water projects.
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FEDERAL EMPLOYEE PAY
Trump has proposed a pay freeze for civilian federal employees, but the measure would guarantee those workers a 1.9 percent increase. The military got a 2.6 percent increase in legislation that passed Congress last year.
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�EXTENDERS�? NEVER MIND
Lawmakers in both parties eyed the measure to renew the government�s troubled federal flood insurance program through Sept. 30, but it and a full menu of expiring laws collectively known as �extenders� went unaddressed in the end. That meant a host of miscellaneous provisions were dropped in the final stages.
A drive by Senate Republicans to extend the Violence Against Women Act was blocked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who feared it would undercut efforts to update the law this spring.
Meanwhile, an extension of a Medicaid provision on home- and community-based nursing care, grants for the poor under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and fixes to a trust fund that finances dredging and maintenance or ports and harbors will also have to advance later.
A bid by Pelosi to win back pay for federal contractors laid off during the recent shutdown was blocked by the White House.
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BIG TRUCKS
For fans of the truly obscure, there�s a provision to exempt sugar beet trucks in rural Oregon from length limits. It would also add exemptions to federal truck weight rules in the state of Kentucky.
(AP)