WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) voted today to pass a bipartisan, bicameral compromise to avert a government shutdown and to fund the government through fiscal year 2019.

“I am proud the House and Senate put partisan politics aside and came to a consensus to fund the government, invest in our priorities and keep our country safe,” Sewell said. “Not only did Congress vote today to avert another government shutdown, we voted to increase border security funding, deliver a hard-earned pay raise for federal employees and invest in American’s crumbling infrastructure.”

The government funding deal includes seven appropriations bills that include provisions that invest in America’s future, including:

• Increasing border security: providing $1.375 billion for physical barriers with language specifying that new fencing is limited to currently deployed designs;
• Investing in national security: a new Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter, the first icebreaker in over 40 years and an $884 million funding increase for the Transportation Security Administration;
• Delivering a pay raise to federal workers: securing a 1.9 percent pay raise for federal civilian workers that overrides the president’s decision to freeze federal employee wages;
• Ensuring a fair and accurate 2020 Census: investing $3.8 billion in the Census, an increase of $1 billion;
• Building safer communities: allocating more than $3 billion for state and local law enforcement to keep communities safe, including addressing the opioid crisis, closing sexual assault kit backlogs and hiring more police officers;
• Rebuilding America’s infrastructure: designating $17 billion in funding for new infrastructure investments to improve our roads, bridges, highways, railways and mass transit, including nearly $2 billion in rural water and waste water funding; and
• Supporting small businesses: restoring and increasing investments in job-creating initiatives for economic and business development, including for minority and women-owned businesses.