The Truth About the Budget, From Gun Control to the Border Wall
The border wall between Mexico and the U.S. in 2017.
Photographer: Herika Martinez/AFP/Getty Images
There’s less than meets the eye to some of the victories Republicans and Democrats have claimed after passing the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill.
The Border Wall
What Republicans say: The measure makes a down payment on President Trump’s promised southern border wall, to the tune of $1.6 billion in funding.
What the bill says: Some of the money in the bill may be used for planning the development of a wall. But the law limits any construction of a physical barrier to fencing and levees.
Gateway Tunnel Project
What Northeastern lawmakers say: Amtrak funding of $540 million could be used for the tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, along with $2.9 billion in grant money the project could bid on.
What the bill says: No money is specifically earmarked for Gateway, which Trump opposes, and the $2.9 billion is subject to approval by the Department of Transportation.
Gun Control
Proponents such as Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas: By adding the Fix NICS Act to the spending bill, Congress took a rare step to combat gun violence.
What the bill says: The act makes no changes to gun laws; it merely gives agencies an incentive to comply with existing rules and report information to the background-check system.
“You want to make these win-win situations where everybody can talk about what they got and not how they got screwed.” —Tom Davis, former Republican congressman from Virginia