House Passes New FY 2019 Government Funding Bill With FCC, FTC Appropriations

The House voted 240-188 Wednesday to pass the FY 2019 Financial Services and General Government funding bill (HR-264), which includes appropriations for the FCC and FTC. The bill is one of four that House Appropriations Committee Democrats filed Sunday in a bid to end the partial government shutdown and finalize FY 2019 funding for affected federal agencies, including the FCC and FTC (see 1901070057). HR-264 would allocate $333 million to the FCC for FY 2019, including $11 million for the Office of Inspector General. The legislation would give the FTC almost $310 million. Those funding levels are the same as in a Senate Appropriations Committee-cleared FY 2019 Financial Services appropriations bill and in President Donald Trump's proposed budget (see 1806210068). The Senate and House passed versions of a FY 2019 “minibus” appropriations bill last year that included $335 million for the FCC and more than $311 million for the FTC (see 1808010064). House passage of HR-264 came on the 19th day of the partial shutdown, during which there were no new signs of potential progress on Capitol Hill to end the impasse with President Donald Trump (see 1901080004).