Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today issued the following statement after the Senate passed a funding package that included the 2019 Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriation bills and a short-term funding bill to avoid a partial government shutdown on October 1:

“By avoiding even a partial shutdown, this bill ensures Californians won’t lose access to any government services while Congress negotiates the remaining funding bills.

“This is a good bill for California. It makes key investments in our students and universities, supports workers by funding new California-developed technologies that will protect service members overseas, and includes more than $30 million to modify seven C-130 air tankers for Cal Fire to fight wildfires.

“The bill protects women by including a short-term extension of the Violence Against Women Act before it expires at the end of the month. This short extension, however, does not replace the need for a bipartisan agreement on a longer VAWA extension that includes meaningful improvements.”

“I’m also glad we successfully stripped out the House Republicans’ many poison-pill riders, including an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood that would have denied access to essential health services for millions of women.”

Key provisions

            The bill:

• Includes an additional $30 million for modifications to the seven C-130 air tankers Senator Feinstein secured for Cal Fire in July.
  
  
• Protects children at the border by requiring the Trump administration to submit a plan to reunite separated families and provides trauma counseling for children taken from their parents.
  
  
• Removes harmful riders that would have increased funding for ICE detention centers and allowed the Trump administration to detain children indefinitely at the border.
  
  
• Reverses cuts made by House Republicans to teen pregnancy prevention and Title X family planning programs.
  
  
• Provides $3.8 billion for opioid response efforts, a $206 million increase from last year, to fight the ongoing epidemic.
  
  
• Includes a $2 billion increase in NIH funding in order to spur medical research, particularly related to finding a cure for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
  
  
• Includes $50 million for a new initiative to reduce maternal mortality rates.
  
  
• Increases funding for education including an additional $100 million for Title I grants to help low-income students get the academic resources they need to be successful.
  
  
• Raises the maximum Pell grant award to $6,195 to help more students pursue a higher education.
  
  
• Provides a 2.6 percent pay raise for uniformed service members and a 1.9 percent pay raise for the civilians who support them.
  
  
• Provides $1.6 billion for an Expeditionary Sea Base and two Navy fleet oilers to be built in San Diego.
  
  
• Includes $11.2 billion for F-18 and F-35 aircraft, which will help support advanced manufacturing jobs throughout California.
  
  
• Includes nearly $1.5 billion for additional medical research funded by the Department of Defense, including $125 million for traumatic brain injury and psychological health research.

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