The House has approved a package of fiscal 2018 spending bills that would provide the $1.6 billion President Trump requested to start work on a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border as well as boost military construction and the Army Corps of Engineers civil works program. But the legislation would cut spending on major Dept. of Veterans Affairs building projects. [Bill summary.]
The legislation also would let the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps withdraw, without going through the regulatory comment process, a 2015 Obama administration rule defining which bodies of water are subject to federal regulation.