Senate passes stopgap spending bill, $1.1 billion to fight Zika virus

WASHINGTON >> Averting an election-year crisis, the Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to keep the government operating through Dec. 9 and provide $1.1 billion in long-delayed funding to battle the Zika virus. The House was poised to act on the measure before day’s end.

The sweeping 72-26 vote came after top congressional leaders broke through a stalemate over aid to help Flint, Michigan, address its water crisis. Democratic advocates for Flint are now satisfied with Republican assurances that money for Flint will be finalized after the election.

The hybrid spending measure is the last major item on Capitol Hill’s preelection agenda and caps months of wrangling over money to fight the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The spending bill also includes $500 million for rebuilding assistance to flood-ravaged Louisiana and other states.

Both the House and Senate in rapid succession also overrode President Barack Obama’s veto of legislation to allow families of Sept. 11 victims sue Saudi Arabia for its alleged backing of the attackers, handing him the first veto override of his presidency.

Determined to return home and campaign, the House was expected to approve the spending bill as early as Wednesday night and send it to Obama for his signature. Congress won’t return to Washington until the week after Election Day.

The House is also set to approve a water development projects bill after a compromise late Tuesday on a $170 million Flint aid package brokered by Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top leaders.

The deal averts a potential federal shutdown and comes just three days before the midnight deadline. It defuses a lengthy, frustrating battle over Zika spending. Democrats claimed a partial victory on Flint while the GOPdominated Louisiana delegation won a down-payment on Obama’s $2.6 billion request for their state.

The politicking and power plays enormously complicated what should have been a routine measure to avoid an electioneve government shutdown.

The temporary government-wide spending bill stalled in the Senate Tuesday over Democrats’ demands that the measure include $220 million in Senate-passed funding to help Flint and other cities deal with lead-tainted water. Democrats said they were not willing to accept a promise that Flint funding would come after the election, but by Wednesday top Democrats like Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, DNev., agreed to address the water crisis in the separate water development bill.