Here’s what’s in the new government spending bill

Congress reached a deal on a bipartisan spending bill on Monday that will fund the government through September. The bill does not include funding for President Donald Trump’s promised border wall.

On Wednesday’s “The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson,” Doc Thompson and Kal Elsebai talked about what the bill does include: protections for medical marijuana; an initial emergency fund to fight infectious diseases that pose a global threat; and legislation to rename Lithodes aequispinus to “golden king crab.”

Doc compared D.C. spending to an iceberg: “There’s a lot of stuff under the water that you can’t see that is ready to rock your ship.”

A new measure in the spending bill is an emergency fund for fighting diseases that pose a global threat. While a $75 million emergency fund to prepare for the next infectious disease crisis sounds reasonable, Doc noted that $75 million is just the beginning of government spending for the fund to fight the next Ebola or Zika.

The spending bill also includes a de facto law protecting medical marijuana, Doc asserted. A measure in the spending bill continues to block the DOJ from spending money to stop states from implementing their own laws pertaining to medical marijuana. The provision isn’t new, but under the Trump administration, it seems to contradict Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ tough stance on drugs.

“They want this to prevent Jeff Sessions from going after the medical portion basically,” Doc explained.

To see more from Doc, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson” weekdays 6–9 a.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.