Washington, DC - The government funding bills I just signed into law contain big victories for my Administration and the American people. They enable us to continue to advance our pro-growth, pro-worker, pro-family, America First agenda.
These bills will help us rebuild and invest in the military, with a $22 billion increase in defense spending (to $738 billion in Fiscal Year 2020), a pay raise of 3.1 percent for the troops, and the establishment of the United States Space Force. At the same time, the bills enable us to help our veterans by robustly funding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and ensuring America’s veterans receive the best choice in their care between VA, the community, telehealth, and urgent care.
The legislation increases access to affordable and high-quality child care for American families. It also expands apprenticeships and workforce development programs and extends the paid parental leave tax credit and the work opportunity tax credit, providing grant incentives for businesses to hire and retain well-qualified employees.
The legislation builds on criminal justice reform efforts by providing $75 million for my Administration’s historic Criminal Justice Reform initiative, the First Step Act.
We continue to defend America’s most vulnerable, the unborn. The legislation preserves all pro-life protections like the Hyde Amendment; rejects Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s anti-life amendment that could have increased funding for pro-abortion organizations; and rejects all anti-life riders in the partisan versions of these bills that originally passed the House, including one that would have undermined my Administration’s pro-life Title X rule.
The legislation preserves my authorities to build the wall on our southern border, and it prevents attempts to slash and cap ICE detention beds, as well as efforts to defund and block my Administration’s successful strategies and use of available law enforcement tools, which have produced dramatic reductions in illegal border-crossings.
We have now also repealed the Obamacare Medical Device Tax, which threatened access to cutting-edge devices that save lives and enhance the quality of life for all Americans. We also eliminated the Obamacare Cadillac Tax, which would have imposed a 40 percent tax on 1 in 5 employers in 2022, ultimately placing severe financial burdens on employees.
Taken together, the government funding bills guarantee that critical priorities – investing in the military, ensuring Americans are more prosperous and healthy, delivering border security, engaging on criminal justice reform, and defending life – will be met in the upcoming year.
