The last-minute bill to avert a potentially catastrophic U.S. default and reopen the government came in at a relatively skimpy 35 pages, but lawmakers still managed to pack in some special favors.
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The legislation also includes a $174,000 payment to Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, the widow of New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, who died in June.
Lautenberg was a respected New Jersey Democrat. He was a multi-millionaire, but Senate traditions honor late senators with a cash payment to their survivors.
And it extends an authority for the Department of Defense to continue to support African forces pursuing Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
