House negotiators worked far into the night last night before agreeing on a 2,232-page, $1.3-trillion omnibus spending bill that vastly increases domestic and military spending while denying the president much of his border wall money and leaving the DREAMers in limbo.

Congress must pass a budget bill by tomorrow or risk a partial government shutdown.  House Republican leadership says Trump has signed off on the legislation, despite the huge increases and less than expected money for the wall.

Associated Press:

Leaders still hoped to start voting as soon as Thursday.  A stopgap measure may be needed to ensure federal offices aren't hit with a partial shutdown at midnight Friday when funding for the government expires.

Negotiators have been working for days – and nights – on details of the bill, which is widely viewed as the last major piece of legislation likely to move through Congress in this election year.  Lawmakers in both parties sought to attach their top priorities.

Two of the biggest remaining issues had been border wall funds and a legislative response to gun violence after the clamor for action following recent school shootings, including the one in Parkland, Florida.

On guns, leaders tentatively agreed to tuck in bipartisan provisions to bolster school safety funds and improve compliance with the criminal background check system for firearm purchases.  The bill states that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can do research on gun violence, though not advocacy, an idea Democrats pushed.

But there was no resolution for Dreamers, the young immigrants [sic] who have been living in the United States illegally since childhood, but whose deportation protections are being challenged in court after Trump tried to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

Lou Dobbs spoke for many when he called GOP lawmakers "lazy" and "deceitful":

Despite what Dobbs says, it's not just the establishment Republicans who are giving in.  They may be largely responsible for this travesty.  But conservatives appear not to want to rock the boat and get blamed for a shutdown.

There's a chance enough House Republicans will refuse to vote for this mess.  Democrats are already making noises about the lack of resolution for the DREAMer issue.  Unless 30-35 Democrats can be convinced to vote for the bill, it will be back to the drawing board.  Passage is by no means certain.

Budget deficits don't matter.  The debt doesn't matter.  Responsible governance doesn't matter.  And they wonder why we hate Washington?