By: Kayla Pasacreta

An agreement has ben made in Washington. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) announced the Senate has reached a two-year budget agreement, in replacement of the temporary 3-week spending bill that was set to expire this Friday. 

McConnell boasted that the bill is a positive step toward bipartisanship, "I hope we can build on this bipartisan momentum and make 2018 a year of significant achievement for Congress, for our constituents and for the country we all love.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was also happy about the bill, and expressed a similar sentiment, "This budget deal is the first real sprout of bipartisanship, and it should break the long cycle of spending crises that have snarled this Congress and hampered our middle class.”

The bill includes $20 billion of funding for infrastructure, disaster relief, $6 billion to tackle the opioid crisis, $4 billion towards veteran's health clinics, and $2 billion toward medical research. The two-year spending bill ups government spending by $400 billion and secures the extra military funding Donald Trump rallied for. Still, even some Republicans are weary about the possibility of adding to the nation's debt. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), called the bill a "debt junkie's dream", and continued, “I’m not only a no, I’m a hell no.”

Although the deal has passed in the Senate, its fate in the House is unclear. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has said she will not vote for the bill unless House Majority Leader Paul Ryan commits to DACA protections, "Without a commitment from Speaker Ryan, comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support,”

Protections for Dreamers were at the center of the last government shutdown. The bill does not appear to include any DACA protections or replacements.