Narrowly passes

House narrowly passes military construction, veterans funding bill

Republicans muscled through the spending bill in an 218-206 vote.

Connor O'Brien

The House cleared its military construction and veterans spending bill Wednesday, almost entirely along party lines — the first annual government funding measure to be approved in a contentious budget season.

What happened: Republicans muscled through the spending bill in an 218-206 vote. Nearly all Democrats opposed the bill, with only two breaking ranks to help pass it.

Partisan divide: Democrats are at odds with President Donald Trump’s budget proposal, which seeks deep cuts in domestic spending while keeping defense spending at the same level as this year — while using Republicans’ megabill to layer on an extra $150 billion for the Pentagon.

Democrats have criticized Republicans for moving ahead with the military construction bill — which deals with the sliver of the Pentagon budget that includes the armed services’ infrastructure projects — before the administration has sent Congress a full defense budget proposal.

They’ve also slammed policy provisions in the bill that limit funding to cover abortions and gender-affirming care at the Veterans Affairs Department.

By the numbers: The bill provides $152 billion in overall discretionary spending, most of which goes to the VA — just under a $5 billion increase from the current year. Appropriators also approved $300 billion in mandatory funding for veterans’ benefits.

For the Pentagon, the bill allocates $18 billion for military construction and family housing projects, $480 million more than the current year.