Trump Hastily Signs Bill To Prevent Government From Shutting Down

It was certainly a busy Friday, Dec. 20, for Donald Trump. President hastily signed bills that thwarted an impending government shutdown.

In the Nick of Time

The legislations that were lined up for his signature include those that boost the funding of the military and some domestic programs. The signing of the questioned bills will be able to keep the government running up to September. However, some existing programs of the government were clearly affected.

For instance, some funding was scrapped because of the bill. Taxes were also slashed to give way to the requirements of the bill. Taxes that were utilized for the Affordable Care Act’s funding were scrapped. This would include the Cadillac Tax, which is imposed on high-cost plans. Tobacco was likewise affected. The age of those who would be using or buying tobacco was raked up to 21.

Pres. Trump approved the appropriations budget of $1.4 trillion. This happened a few hours before the funding would lapse. It was an appropriations package, which was an offshoot of the two short-term plans that Congress had to pass just to keep money flowing into the government and afford the institution the ability to continue its operations.

The budget discussion ignited some fire from warring parties, but they were able to come up with a compromise. One of the things that were contentious was the president’s budget on the Mexico border. Congress set aside $1.4 billion for the fencing of the border.

Other areas of interest include the budget for federal guns, budget for fighting the opioid crisis. The budget for guns was almost the same last year. The budget for the defense was increased to $22 billion. The budget also gave both federal and civilian employees a raise equivalent to 3.1%.

An Offshoot Of Impeachment

The impeachment of Donald Trump may have taken so much toll on him. In a report by Washington Post, the President mentioned that impeachment could turn a president into a mess. He added that a president that’s impeached would be thinking about nothing, except that the whole process would be a horror for him. With a very shaky political arena in the U.S., Pres. Trump would need all the luck to make it out of this turmoil.