Negotiators planned to officially unveil the massive government-wide spending bill later in the day in hopes of passing it before a Friday midnight deadline to avoid a government shutdown. A temporary funding bill to keep operations going this weekend might be required. Democrats touted almost $4 billion in total funding to fight the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic, an almost $3 billion increase. The bill would add $143 billion over limits set under a 2011 budget and debt pact that forced automatic budget cuts on annual agency appropriations. Coupled with last year’s tax cuts, it heralds the return of trillion-dollar budget deficits as soon as the budget year starting in October.

Source: National Post March 21, 2018 04:18 UTC