The House and Senate voted today on an FY19 appropriations conference report that includes the seven remaining spending bills. The Senate took up H.J. Res. 31 first and passed it by a vote of 83-16. The no votes were from Sens. Booker (D-NJ), Braun (R-IN), Cotton (R-AR), Cruz (R-TX), Gillibrand (D-NY), Harris (D-CA), Hawley (R-MO), Inhofe (R-OK), Lee (R-UT), Markey (D-MA), Paul (R-KY), Rubio (R-FL), Sasse (R-NE), Scott (R-SC), Toomey (R-PA), and Warren (D-MA). The House followed and passed the bill by a vote of 300 to 128. Nineteen Democrats and 109 Republicans voted against the measure.
The conference report included the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Interior-Environment, State-Foreign Operations, and Transportation-HUD FY19 spending bills.
In order to get a final deal, conferees had to give up on including several other provisions that members were seeking, such as securing back pay for federal contractors who lost work during the 35-day partial shutdown, reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, retroactively extending expired tax credits, and stopping automatic spending cuts to mandatory programs under the 2010 pay-as-you-go law.
The bill now goes to the President for his signature. President Trump indicated earlier today that he will declare an emergency in order to allow the administration to redirect funds to fund a wall on the southwest border. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said they would support this move by the President. Not all Senate Republicans, including Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) are on board with an emergency declaration as it sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the role of Congress. House Armed Services Committee Ranking Republican Mac Thornberry (R-TX) encouraged the President not to divert significant Department of Defense funding for border security as it would have detrimental consequences for our troops and military infrastructure. House Democrats could pass legislation to block the President’s emergency declaration. They could also sue the President and challenge his emergency declaration in court. Republicans sued then-President Barack Obama in 2014 over the Affordable Care Act. It was the first time a district-court judge affirmed the right of the House of Representatives, as an institution, to sue a sitting President.
Bill Text
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20190211/CRPT-116hrpt9_u2-.pdf
Joint Explanatory Statement
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20190211/116hrpt9-JointExplanatoryStatement-u1.pdf
House Democrat Summary
Senate Democrat Summary
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Minibus%2019.pdf
Senate Republican Summary
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/021319%20Combined%20Bill%20Summary.pdf