Congress Considers $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill to Fund Federal Government

Congressional negotiators have come to an agreement on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government after the middle of this month.

This spending bill would fund nine Cabinet agencies and all the programs within them for the fiscal year that began in October.

It also includes $49 billion for foreign aid, a third more than last year.

NASA would get $18.7 billion, almost a billion dollars more than last year.

A heating program for the poor would get $5.1 billion, about 40 percent more than President Obama requested.

Another $2.5 billion would go to high speed trains, in addition to the $8 billion in the stimulus package passed earlier this year.

And $2 billion would be poured into climate change research, $75 million more than last year.

But the bill cuts nearly $300 million from the $4.4 billion that Obama requested in economic and security aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Democrats also are using this spending bill to change the 1988 Dornan amendment, which prohibits taxpayer dollars from funding abortions in Washington, D.C. The bill adds the word "federal" to the amendment to allow the D.C. government to use local dollars for funding abortion.

Republican critics say this is an accounting gimmick to find a way to use public dollars to pay for abortions. The House could vote on this bill as early as Thursday.