Today, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate are debating legislation that would fund the federal government for the next two fiscal years. While there is resistance to the bill on both sides of the aisle, they are under pressure to vote on the bill, called the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, today, as the federal government reaches its funding deadline this evening and faces another shutdown.

While both Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell support the bill, resistance to the legislation stems from its potential to add to the federal debt and its failure to address immigration issues.

Alongside up to $90 billion to address disaster relief in Florida, Puerto Rico and Texas, tenants of the bill include:

  • The repeal of sequestration, automatic across the board spending cuts put in place by the Budget Control Act of 2011.
  • Suspension of the debt ceiling until March 2019
  • $165 billion over two years for defense spending
  • $20 billion over two years for infrastructure
  • Nearly $6 billion over two years for child care
  • $2 billion over two years for National Institutes of Health research
  • $6 billion over two years to combat opioid addiction and other substance abuse epidemics
  • $7 billion over two years to fund community health centers