Government Shutdown Averted -- It Only Cost $1.3 Trillion -- December 17, 2019

When I first heard the headlines to this story, it sounded like Democrat spending, but the GOP got what they wanted.

• Good, bad, or indifferent, but for all those folks who did not like ObamaCare, the bill will repeal three ObamaCare taxes:
• the medical device tax (benefits big, bad corporations)
• the tax for "Cadillac care" health insurance policies (affected unions who negotiated great health care programs)
• penalty tax on those who did not buy health insurance tax
• the feds will raise the minimum age to 21 to buy tobacco in all forms, and vaping products
• the Defense Department will receive $22 billion more than it received during the previous fiscal year
• establishes a quasi-formal sixth branch of the US military, the Space Force
• active duty military will receive the largest increase in basic pay in a decade, a 3.1% increase in pay
• [military retirees were given a 2.8% in their 2020 pension in an earlier bill]
• President Trump --- and I find this amazing-- got a lot for the southern wall
• $1.375 billion (didn't Trump want $1.4 billion; so Nancy Pelosi can say he didn't get what he wanted)
• the bill will also give Trump more flexibility where the wall will be built
• the overall spending bill will exceed $1 trillion for the first time since 2012
• as bad as it sounds, the spending bill will contribute to less than 5%of the GDP (on the down side)
• and for years folks have been asking for "gun research": this bill provides $25 million for gun research 

Politics:

• looks like Mike Bloomberg just got sucked into the #MeToo whirlpool 
• Pocahontas: previously reported, but apparently it's getting more coverage -- she lost half her base when she said she would take away their private insurance; here's the thing ....