House Poised to Vote on 5,593-Page Relief and Spending Bill Bloomberg 12/21/2020 Erik Wasson, Billy House and Laura Litvan
(Bloomberg) The House was poised to vote Monday on a massive 5,593-page package of legislation that combines pandemic relief with a bill to fund government operations just hours after lawmakers got the text.
The roughly $900 billion aid package is attached to a $1.4 trillion measure to fund government operations through the end of the fiscal year. Also included are major tax, energy and national security policy measures.
Congressional leaders said they expect the legislation to pass both chambers and the White House said President Donald Trump would sign it. Once the House acts it will go to the Senate.
Congress won’t block Trump’s order to strip civil service protections from many federal workers Eric Yoder The massive tax and spending bill approved by Congress would not prevent the Trump administration from stripping most civil service protections from a large class of federal employees, a dramatic reshaping of the career workforce opposed by federal employee groups and many Democrats. The bill also opens the door for President Trump to finalize a 1 percent federal raise for January that he proposed earlier, although that is not guaranteed, since more recently the administration advocated a pay freeze. It also gives many employees more time to pay a tax debt that was created under a separate administration policy.