Congress unveils massive spending bill as deadline looms

Sources had said the measure would provide a backdoor for construction to begin on the Gateway Project, a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, by making some of the federal funding supporters wanted available through money appropriated for Amtrak and other accounts. As much as $541 million in funding would be available for the project this year, with an extra $2.9 billion in grants also being made available, the Democratic source said.

Trump had quietly threatened to veto the bill if it contained funding for Gateway, but Republican lawmakers who represent districts in the region had lobbied him to support the effort. The Democratic source said that the Department of Transportation will have “a limited ability to withhold the funding” despite Trump’s opposition to the project, and that the bill includes language that requires the transportation secretary to sign off on grants in compliance with requirements in current law. At the same time, this portion of the bill can be viewed as a compromise because it doesn’t make as much available for the project as originally requested.

The deal would not cut funding for Planned Parenthood and there are no provisions that defund so-called sanctuary cities, said the Democratic source, who added that the bill also provides for more than $300 million above the Trump administration’s request for the FBI’s efforts to fight Russian cyberattacks in 2018. The bill also offers a $2.8 billion increase to help battle the opioid epidemic.

Three sources told NBC News that Fix NICS, a bipartisan Senate bill that aims to improve state compliance with the national background check system for firearm purchases, would be wrapped into the spending package. The measure was also scheduled to include language to clarify that nothing in the bill precludes gun violence research, which has been effectively banned by Congress at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for more than 20 years.

A major funding increase for school safety was wrapped into the bill as well. Two Republican sources said Tuesday that the bill would provide more than $2 billion for school safety, far more than the $50 million the House passed in the STOP School Violence Act and more than the $100 million in the Senate version of a similar bill. Democrats had argued that the $2 billion figure is Republican spin because that total includes money for programs that already exist. The bill does not provide money for arming teachers.

Republicans won’t be able to pass the measure without some Democratic votes, at least in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to end debate and advance the bill. Republicans currently have 51 senators, while Democrats have 49.