Congressional negotiators unveiled a mammoth $1.7 trillion funding bill today that leaders are racing to pass by the end of the week. We’ll also look at the latest on the Democratic-led push to release President Trump’s tax return information and a massive fine against Wells Fargo.
🥶 But first, see why this Christmas might be the coldest ever.
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What’s in Congress’ $1.7 trillion spending package?
Congress is set to vote on a 4,155-page, $1.7 trillion government funding bill within days of its release this week.
The omnibus funding package, made up of the 12 annual appropriations bills, will fund the government and its various agencies through the remainder of fiscal 2023, which ends in late September.
Its expected passage in the days ahead will cap off months of stalemates in haggling over issues like levels of growth for defense and nondefense spending and decades-old riders.
Here are some things that made the cut — and what was scrapped:
- An increase in defense spending: The package included $858 billion in defense funding, a figure in line with the dollar level set by the National Defense Authorization Act that passed both chambers earlier this month. Negotiators say defense funding baseline saw about a 10 percent increase, above the 7.1 percent inflation rate and almost double that of the nondefense baseline, when not factoring in veterans funding — which Democrats had previously pressed be categorized in its own section in spending talks.
- Ukraine aid: The funding bill includes more than $40 billion for Ukraine aid, higher than what the White House requested last month. The jump comes as there have been concerns about how such funding would fare next year in a GOP-led House where some conservatives have become critical of the aid. The news also comes days after the Pentagon announced plans for the country to expand military training for Ukrainian troops in Germany.
- TikTok ban: Legislation introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) seeking to prohibit the use of TikTok on government phones and devices made it into the package. The measure’s inclusion comes after the Senate unanimously approved the bill earlier this month, and after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) recently expressed support for passing the legislation.
Aris digs in here.
ALSO READ:House GOP bloc threatens to ‘thwart’ legislative priorities of GOP senators who vote for omnibus
RETURNS ARE IN
After years of fighting for it, Democrats may release Trump tax return information
Democrats on the chief tax-writing committee in the House could vote to release tax return information on Donald Trump after winning a prolonged legal battle against the former president in the final weeks of Democratic control of the lower chamber.
The Ways and Means Committee met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss “documents protected under Internal Revenue Code section 6103,” the rule under which Democrats were able to obtain Trump’s tax records from the Treasury for years 2015 to 2020.
- It’s unclear just how much information lawmakers might release, and how valuable returns from those years would be.
- In 2020, The New York Times reported that Trump paid only $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and that he’d paid “no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years – largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.”
- But there’s doubt about whether the documents provided to House Democrats go back far enough to be able to give a full picture of Trump’s financial history and corroborate so much bombshell reporting.
Tobias Burns explains here.
BIG FINE
Wells Fargo settles CFPB allegations for $3.7B
Wells Fargo on Tuesday agreed to a $3.7 billion settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to resolve allegations against the banking giant for misapplied loans, wrongfully foreclosed homes and illegally repossessed vehicles.
- Wells Fargo will pay $2 billion to customers affected by its policies, as well as a $1.7 billion civil penalty for the legal violations.
- CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said that the bank’s practices have “harmed millions of American families.”
One of the charges against Wells Fargo states that they have denied thousands of people mortgage loan modifications over a seven-year period, which resulted in the wrongful foreclosure of homes, CFPB said.
The bank also charged surprise overdraft fees against customers who had enough money to cover an expense and authorized improper fees and interest in auto loans.
The Hill’s Brad Dress has more here.
TECH WINS AGAIN
Big Tech bills left out of sweeping government spending bill
Bipartisan bills targeting the nation’s largest tech firms were not to the $1.7 trillion government spending bill, squelching what supporters said was the best effort to pass the bills before House Republicans take control in the new year.
Supporters of efforts to revamp antitrust laws, as well as update kids’ online safety regulations, hoped to add such measures to the omnibus funding bill in a last-ditch effort to pass them this year, but a swath of tech bills was left out, according to text released early Tuesday.
Both of the bills advanced out of the House and Senate Judiciary committees with bipartisan support but appear to be falling by the wayside without coming up for
a vote on the floor of either chamber as the 117th Congress comes to a close.
Rebecca Klar has more here.
Good to Know
Economists are predicting a 70 percent chance the U.S. enters a recession next year, according to the latest Bloomberg survey.
Those odds are up from a 65 percent recession prediction in November, as well as a 30 percent prediction in June from previous Bloomberg surveys.
Other items we’re keeping an eye on:
- A child tax credit expansion is not included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus funding bill, despite Democrats listing it as a top priority during negotiations with Republicans.
- The $1.7 trillion omnibus bill includes the largest increase to the Pell Grant award in more than a decade.
- New US Postal Service vehicles will be 100 percent electric beginning in 2026, the agency announced Tuesday, months after controversy erupted over the initial majority-gas-powered order.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.