Conference members of both chambers of Congress have reached a compromise to combine the $674B defense spending bill with a measure that would appropriate fiscal 2019 funds for the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Education, Defense News reported Thursday.
“The Defense and Labor-HHS bills account for the lion’s share of discretionary spending,†said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
The conference report on the “minibus†measure includes a continuing resolution that aims to prevent a government shutdown by funding other federal agencies through Dec. 7 to give lawmakers time to negotiate other appropriations bills.
USA Today reported that the House on Thursday voted 377-20 to approve a package of bills that would allocate fiscal 2019 funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction, energy and water infrastructure and legislative branch.
The package is now headed to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature, the report added.
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