Trump Signs 2020 Spending Bills, Averting Midnight Shutdown
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By
Eric Katz
The $1.4 trillion measures boost funding for most agencies and provide a 3.1% pay raise to civilian feds.
Late Friday, President Trump signed into law a pair of bills that will set line-by-line funding for every agency in the federal government and provide most with a significant funding boost, avoiding a midnight shutdown when current appropriations were set to expire.
The bills will allocate $1.4 trillion: $738 billion to the military and $632 billion to non-defense agencies, increases over fiscal 2019 of $22 billion for the Pentagon and $27 billion for non-defense.
Top lawmakers reached an agreement with the Trump administration last week on the spending after months of negotiations and two continuing resolutions. Appropriators unveiled the two bills—divided into national security and domestic categories—late Monday afternoon. The House approved them on Tuesday and the Senate followed suit late Thursday.
Late Friday Trump tweeted a letter to federal workers thanking them for their "devoted and vigilant efforts" and noting "major improvements" to their compensation contained in the spending bills and the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, also signed into law on Friday.
A slate of policy changes that will impact federal employees and operations across government made their way into the final appropriations language, including a 3.1% pay raise for the entire workforce. Trump said this pay raise "reflects the excellent work of our federal workforce" and complements the paid parental leave benefit included in the Defense authorization act.
"I am proud to say that our government is leading by example in changing the culture of how we support working families," Trump wrote. "Along with the pay raise, the new paid parental leave benefit will help ensure federal employees have the resources and support they need to raise healthy and happy families."
See a full breakdown of the most significant takeaways from the spending bills here.
The measures will keep agencies funded through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, setting the stage for the next spending fight just over a month before the 2020 presidential election.