Judy: U.S. Lawmakers are working
around the clock to pass a
massive $1.7 trillion government
funding bill before they head
home for the holidays.
Over 4000 pages of legislative
text were released overnight and
they include key spending
measures like over $800 billion
in defense spending, $45 billion
for Ukraine aid, 800 billion
dollars in nondefense spending,
and at least $38 billion in
disaster aid.
Following this closely is a
veteran capitol hill reporter
and cofounder of punch bowl
news.
John, welcome back.
Thank you for joining us.
Let's start -- give us an
overall sense of what is in this
massive piece of legislation,
4000 pages.
John: It is a huge bill, it was
dropped at 1:45 A.M. Last night.
Nobody outside the appropriation
committees in the house and
senate has read the full thing,
it is too much.
There is a senate vote going on
right now.
What is in this bill is this
would fund the government
through September 30, 2023.
It would keep government
agencies fully funded through
next year.
It ends a face-off we had the
last couple of weeks over
government funding.
Right now, government funding
expires midnight Friday.
If they don't pass this bill or
some other bill to keep the
government agencies open, there
would be a shutdown.
They are starting the process
right now.
Starting the parliamentary
process and moving forward right
now.
This is a vital piece of
legislation and funds the entire
government.
There are 12 different
appropriation bills in one
package.
It is just a huge patient
legislation.
Judy: And they waited until the
last minute.
Majorwins and losses for each
party in here?
John: The Republicans played a
tough hand here, they had all of
the cards.
They wanted a big increase in
military spending and they got
it.
With the situation in Ukraine
and Taiwan, all of the
challenges the U.S. Military
faces worldwide, they got that.
As you noted, it is $858 billion
just for one year for military
spending for the United States.
The other thing they wanted to
do, they wanted to break this
relationship between increases
in military spending and
increases in domestic spending.
Social spending.
This parity that has existed the
last couple of years.
They were able to do that as
well.
We are still spinning a huge
amount of money on domestic
programs but it is not
increasing as much as defense
spending, a 10% increase in
defense spending.
Judy: We know there are
interesting adds.
The electoral reform act ended
up think part of this, and a ban
on tiktok.
John: The electoral reform act
is to avoid what happened on
January 6, 2020.
This bill, led by senator Susan
Collins and senator Joe Manchin
would limit the role of the vice
president during the electoral
college certification of state
results -- what happened on
January 6.
This is what the pro-trump
supporters when they attacked
the capital, they were trying to
ban the certification of Joe
Biden's victory.
This would stop that and make
sure the vice president's role
is ceremonial.
It would also make it more
difficult for senators and
members who object to state
results to try to force a vote
on that.
This would try to stop what
happened January 6 from
happening again.
It's a very important piece of
legislation and this should pass
as well as the rest of the bill.
The other issue is tiktok.
There is concern about law
enforcement and security
agencies.
This is a hugely popular app,
owned by a Chinese company that
has partial ownership by the
Chinese government.
This bill would ban it from
government devices.
A number of states are doing the
same thing.
We will see much more on this in
the next congress.
There will be efforts to ban the
use of tiktok across the united
States.
Judy: And the sense is this will
ultimately pass?
Eureka: -- John: It's gonna be
tough.
Technically, the senators
opposed to this, they could drag
it out, into next week, but
they've said they are not going
to.
They want some votes on
amendments, to change the bill,
but there is enough democratic
support and enough Republicans
to pass it in the senate.
Think that will happen tomorrow,
possibly Thursday.
Then it goes to the house.
That will take one day, and then
it goes to president Biden's
desk.
Judy: Two other important things
I want to ask about.
One, very quickly, the house
ways and means committee taking
up the question about what to do
about former president trump's
taxes.
Is the expectation they are
going to ask those be released
and made available?
John: Yeah, that is happening
now.
The ways and means committee is
still in executive session,
which means it is just members
and staff, close to the public.
They are reviewing whether to
release trump's taxes.
Our expectation is that if it
happens, it will be quickly, it
could be tonight or tomorrow.
There is literally one copy of
the tax returns.
They are so confidential.
Even with the vote, they have to
have time to process it.
We expect that tonight or
tomorrow.
Judy: You broke the story late
today about Ukraine's president
making his first trip overseas
outside the country since the
war began, and he will not only
meet with president Biden but we
expect will address congress
tomorrow night.
Can you quickly tell us what is
going on?
John: We expect him to address a
joint session of congress
tomorrow, a big deal.
This goes back to the omnibus
funding bill.
It includes 45 billion dollars
in a new economic and military
aid for Ukraine and to support
the U.S. Allies in eastern
Europe, nato allies, with
refugees and other economic
issues they face, pay for U.S.
Troops in those nato allies.
This is a big deal.
Part of the reason why Zelinski
is coming is to rally support
for the on the bus.
This plays into the mystic
politics here and I can Ukraine.
The United States is by far the
most important supporter for the
Ukrainian government.
If this 45 billion dollars
passes, the United States will
have spent, be on a path to
spend more than $100 billion
helping Ukraine to fend off
Russian aggression.
Judy: Remarkable.
John, we thank you for your
reporting and for joining us.
We appreciate it.