U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee negotiated a $1 trillion bi-partisan spending bill late Monday that would keep the federal government running for most of this year while directing hundreds of millions of dollars to Maryland interests, according to the Baltimore Sun.  Maryland counties have especially strong economic ties to the federal government because many federal employees and several federal agencies call our counties home.

Senator Mikulski spoke out against sequestration, and protected funding for Maryland airports during the shutdown.  According to the Baltimore Sun, Mikulski said that this agreement marks a step away from “shutdown” politics,

“This agreement shows the American people that we can compromise, and that we can govern,” Mikulski said in a statement. “It puts an end to shutdown, slowdown, slamdown politics.”

Maryland is a home to federal agencies and this new bill will build on the federal government’s presence through new construction projects, as described in the Sun.

Maryland is home is some 300,000 federal employees and several major agencies, including the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. Independent economists believe the state’s economy weathered the economic downturn better than other states in large part because of the federal presence. . . Other Maryland provisions in the bill include more than a dozen construction projects on military bases in the state. The measure includes $210 million to build laboratory facilities at the Aberdeen Proving Ground and more than $200 million for cyber operations at Fort Meade, home of the National Security Agency.

For more information, see the full story from the Baltimore Sun.