Over the past few weeks, it looked increasingly possible that Congress might fail to meet an April 28 deadline for adopting a fiscal year 2017 (FY17) appropriations package, potentially leading to a shutdown of the federal government. In March, negotiations seemed to be on track, but in early April, President Trump insisted that the package include additional funding for the military and, controversially, funding to begin the design and construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. There was also briefly a time when the President seemed to imply that he would suspend federal payments for the ACA's Cost Sharing Reductions (CSR), leading Democrats to insist on funding for CSRs be included in the appropriations measure.

However, after a one-week extension, Democrats and Republicans agreed on an omnibus appropriations package to keep the federal government running through the end of the fiscal year. The mammoth legislation contained the 11 unfinished FY17 appropriations bills, providing spending for nearly every corner of the federal government. In the House, the legislation passed 308 to 118 with 103 Republicans and 15 Democrats bucking their leadership to vote against the measure. In the Senate, it passed 79 to 18 with 18 Republicans voting against the measure. Democrats are claiming victory, saying they eliminated more than 160 Republican "poison pill riders" (including all funding for a border wall), and Republicans are hailing the $15 billion increase in supplemental defense spending and $1.5 billion for non-wall border security efforts. The bill also contains $295.9 million to help shore up Puerto Rico's Medicaid fund and $1 billion for a health care and pension benefits fund for retired coal miners, boosts spending at the National Institutes of Health by $2 billion, and cuts the Environmental Protection Agency by just one percent (roughly $80 million).

Takeaway: Republicans, eager to avoid a government shutdown, were pleased with increased supplemental funding for the military and generally agreed to push major disputes (such as funding for Planned Parenthood) off until this summer and the fall's negotiations over the FY18 budget. In what was expected to be the first tough appropriations negotiation of the Trump Administration, Democrats were largely successful in protecting domestic spending and rejecting funding for President Trump's border wall.