Hey, fellow democrats in the United States and abroad. Trump just gave us a big win for the foreseeable future. Let's celebrate!
>Here are some of the ways Democrats won out in this bill, despite being in the minority in both houses:
>$1.6 billion for border fencing, but with the specification that it only apply to existing designs, meaning no wall.
>The Fix NICS Act, which modestly improves the existing gun background-check system, plus a provision instructing the Centers for Disease Control that it is free to conduct research on gun violence. Such research was effectively stopped in 1996.
>A slight increase to the IRS budget. While not nearly what the agency needs, especially given the challenge of implementing the new tax law, at least it doesn’t continue the long-standing GOP effort to starve the IRS of funds and make enforcement a joke.
>$380 million in assistance to states to improve the security of their election systems, and $300 million to the FBI to combat Russian hacking of those systems.
>No repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which prevents churches from endorsing candidates and acting as political organizations. President Trump has advocated that the amendment be repealed.
>Increases for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. Trump had proposed eliminating them entirely.
>No cuts to the EPA (Trump had proposed cutting the agency’s budget by a third) and an increase in funding for clean energy research through ARPA-E, which Trump had proposed eliminating entirely.
>Increased funding for affordable housing.
>Increased education funding, along with what nearly everyone is describing as a complete rejection of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s agenda.
>Increased funding for the National Institutes of Health.
>A doubling of child-care funding for low-income families.
>No defunding of sanctuary cities or Planned Parenthood.
CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON!
