The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report indicating that the recent government shutdown has caused massive negative effects. The United States economy suffered an $11 billion loss due to the shutdown. $3 billion of that loss is not recoverable.
Congressional negotiators are optimistic that their funding package, finalized just before midnight on February 13, 2019, will receive bipartisan support. After the Senate and the House approve the plan, it will go to President Trump for his signature.
The 1,159-page bill does not provide the amount of funding for the Mexico United States border wall that President Trump wants. The border security portion of the bill represents a compromise. $49 billion of the budget, dedicated to the Department of Homeland Security, offers $1.375 billion that will allow for construction of just 55 miles of fencing. This is much less than the original 200 miles of concrete wall and steel-post fencing President Trump called for early in his presidency.
This new offer is smaller than the offer the president said no to in December. The result of his rejection of that bill was a 35-day shutdown of the government.
This bill is expected to pass, despite members of both the Senate and the House expressing their discomfort with certain portions.
