WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a bipartisan debt increase and new set of spending limits that would help lock in spending increases for the Pentagon and elsewhere in the budget.
The hard-won agreement permits the government to resume borrowing to pay its bills and sets an overall $1.37 trillion limit on agency budgets approved by Congress annually. It also ends automatic spending cuts and eliminates the prospect of an October government shutdown.
The Senate voted 67-28 on Thursday to send the legislation to Trump. The House had already passed the bill.
The legislation was a victory for both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a lead negotiator, and top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who was the key force in favor among Capitol Hill Republicans.
But conservative Republicans called the measure a bad deal that permits unchecked federal borrowing for two years and pays too much ransom to Pelosi's demands for new funds for domestic priorities sought by Democrats.
Follow-up legislation would fill in the line-by-line details of agency budgets when the Senate returns in September. Trump is sure to continue seeking billions of dollars for border security and wall construction, but unlike last year he does not appear eager for a government shutdown over it.
These massive rollovers happen because funds appropriated to EM and NNSA by Congress are available until they are expended. But will they get used?
Defense Department spending would see a 4% increase in fiscal 2023 under a plan released by the White House, significantly above what administration officials wanted last year but likely not enough to satisfy congressional Republicans.
After months of debate and weeks of angst, the Senate has sent its annual defense bill to the president.
The measure now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.
The budget extension came just a few hours before federal agencies would have been forced to shutter due to a lack of funding.
Union leaders said exclusion from remote work fails to consider how reentry imposes commuting costs amid soaring gas prices and hardships on employees who are caregivers.
The Air Force says a continuing resolution could slow down its plans to award a contract for the E-7 Wedgetail in February.
Shell companies used fraudulent licenses to purchase radioactive materials, prompting calls for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to overhaul its licensing system.
The Pentagon and Silicon Valley need to team up. Ignoring the role of institutional venture capital in identifying, supporting, and scaling the most promising commercial technology firms is at best inefficient and at worst it is grossly irresponsible.
The Omnibus IV contract addresses four market segments that companies could be selected to provide services to the DoD: research and development; R&D support services; regulatory processes; and translational science and support services.
Load More