The Senate voted 79-18 on Thursday afternoon to approve an omnibus budget for the remainder of fiscal year 2017. The House passed the same measure on Wednesday by a 309-118 vote. The bill now goes to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature. If the President signs the bill before midnight on May 4, it will mark the second time in two weeks that lawmakers have narrowly averted a shutdown of the federal government. The bill gives the Department of Defense a $12.5 billion boost, with another $2.5 billion to be released upon the delivery of Trump’s new plan to defeat ISIS.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
