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House Passes $1.4 Trillion Federal Spending Bill

Associated Press

   The Democratic-controlled House voted Tuesday to pass a $1.4 trillion
   government-wide spending package, handing President Donald Trump a
   victory on his U.S.-Mexico border fence while giving Democrats spending
   increases across a swath of domestic programs.

   The hard-fought legislation also funds a record Pentagon budget and is
   serving as a must-pass legislative locomotive to tow an unusually large
   haul of unrelated provisions into law, including an expensive repeal of
   Obama-era taxes on high-cost health plans, help for retired coal
   miners, and an increase from 18 to 21 in nationwide legal age to buy
   tobacco products.

   The two-bill package, some 2,371 pages long after additional tax
   provisions were folded in on Tuesday morning, was unveiled Monday
   afternoon and adopted less than 24 hours later as lawmakers prepared to
   wrap up reams of unfinished work against a backdrop of Wednesday's vote
   on impeaching President Donald Trump.