Trump Backs FY 2018 Omnibus; Likely Includes Ray Baum's Act, Additional RUS Broadband Funding
President Donald Trump backs a deal Hill leaders reached Wednesday on the provisions in the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill, the White House said. Trump endorsed the measure after meeting with Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority…
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Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. They “discussed their support for the bill, which includes more funds to rebuild the military, such as the largest pay raise for our troops in a decade, more than 100 miles of new construction for the border wall and other key domestic priorities, like combatting the opioid crisis and rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement. The omnibus' final text was expected to be released late Wednesday. The omnibus appears likely to include substantial funding for rural broadband projects via additional funding directed to the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service, Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told reporters Wednesday. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., meanwhile, echoed other telecom-focused lawmakers' assessments that language from the House-passed Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) would likely be included in the omnibus (see 1803130059 and 1803150043). “We anticipate that it will make it” to Trump, likely via the omnibus, Blackburn said during an American Cable Association event (see Notebook at the end of 1803210053). The additional RUS-directed funding likely to be in the final omnibus will be in the form of a pilot program that will be “hopefully pinpointed to the areas” that are “underserved and unserved” and “have the greatest need, which is what I've been pushing for,” Capito told reporters. She wasn't sure what the exact funding amount would be, but a lobbyist said industry was expecting around $600 million. Capito said there may also be additional funding to improve broadband coverage mapping efforts. “Time after time we've heard how faulty the mapping is,” she said. Senate Commerce Committee members raised concerns about the FCC's broadband maps during two hearings last week on Trump's infrastructure legislative proposal (see 1802270043, 1803130056 and 1803140058).