$1.7T omnibus bill funds border security in foreign nations, but prohibits it in US
(Worthy News) – The more than 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill prohibits funds for U.S. border security but it provides funding for border security in foreign nations.
Democrats need at least 10 votes from GOP senators to pass the legislation, which was unveiled on Tuesday. Congressional leaders are rushing to pass it before the Christmas break.
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy opposes the bill, arguing that Congress should pass a funding bill that expires in January, allowing the new Congress to negotiate its own package. [ Source: Just the News (Read More…) ]
Omnibus bill to cut funds to Wuhan virology lab
Congress‘ $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill to keep the government funded contains provisions that will prevent the Pentagon and State Department from funding China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, considered a possible origin point for the outbreak behind the COVID-19 pandemic.
Critics note that the bill does not block funding by the National Institutes of Health for the Wuhan laboratory where dangerous “gain-of-function” research on making bat viruses more infectious to humans took place before the December 2019 disease outbreak in that city.
The White Coat Waste Project, an advocacy group, lobbied Congress to cut off all federal funding for both the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the U.S. NGO EcoHealth Alliance that has been linked to the institute by Andrew Huff, a former institute vice president who worked in the lab. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]