"It’s depressing, isn’t it?": With little protest, GOP succumbs to Trump on spending

“It’s depressing, isn’t it?” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), one of a handful of GOP senators who plans to oppose the deal. “There are a lot of Republican colleagues who like to spend money.”

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When a reporter suggested that Trump is one of those Republicans, Johnson flashed a pained smile and said, “Precisely.”…

While the 2,312-page package includes some GOP planks — such as a $22 billion increase in Pentagon funding, sustained funding for border-wall projects and the repeal of several taxes associated with Obama’s health-care law — it is also full of Democratic requests, including money for gun violence research, environmental funding and a 3.1 percent pay raise for civilian federal employees.

In addition, the bill reauthorizes the Export-Import Bank — a longtime target of conservative grousing about federal power — and stabilizes pensions for tens of thousands of miners who were on the verge of losing their benefits.

All told, the agreement could add more than $500 billion to the deficit over the next decade, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The deficit — or gap between federal government spending and tax revenue — is expected to eclipse $1 trillion this year.

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