WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama on Friday urged the Senate to pass a proposed $1.1 trillion spending bill that was approved by the House late Thursday.
Obama stressed that the bill would provide important military funding needed to combat terrorism.
"One of the things that was very important in this legislation was it allowed us the funding that’s necessary to battle ISIL, to continue to support our men and women in uniform,” he said.
In addition to the military, the bill will allow money in order to continue to make progress in combatting diseases, including Ebola.
"We’ve got to stay on this. This is not a problem that is going to go away any time soon. And until we have snuffed out the last case of Ebola in West Africa," Obama said.
He also pointed out the impact of the bill on domestic issues such as health care, the environment and the economy. The bill will “allows us to make sure that we continue on the progress in providing health insurance to all Americans, to make sure that we continue with our efforts to combat climate change, that we’re able to expand early childhood education that is making a meaningful difference in communities all across the country, that allows us to expand our manufacturing hubs that are contributing to the growth of jobs and the progress that we’ve seen in our economy over the last couple of years" Obama said.
After the U.S. House of Representatives passed the spending measure, Congress agreed to a two-day extension of current spending levels to give the Senate time to vote on the bill.
The bill funds the government through the end of the current fiscal year that runs through the end of next September. It holds to strict spending levels and funds the entire government, except the Department of Homeland security, which will be funded normally.
That department's finances will expire at the end of February and could pave the wave for more political wrangling for Republicans who have taken issue with Obama’s executive action on immigration that gives protections to 5 million undocumented immigrants.
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