Senate passes spending bill
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday passed a short-term spending bill that would keep the government running through Dec. 7, aiming to avert a government shutdown and put off a fight over funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall until after the midterm elections.
The short-term bill came attached to a massive budget package containing full-year 2019 funding for the Pentagon as well as for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments. GOP leaders designed the package to combine key Republican and Democratic priorities in an attempt to garner overwhelming bipartisan support. The package also aims to satisfy Trump’s desire for more military spending.
The 93-7 vote came less than two weeks ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline when government funding will expire unless Congress and Trump intervene.
The legislation would keep the government open by funding agencies, whose budgets Congress has not addressed before the shutdown deadline, at current levels through Dec. 7.
“This is necessary to ensure that we do not face a government shutdown in the event that we do not finish our work on the remaining bills,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The House is expected to take up the bill next week, but it remains uncertain whether Trump would sign the measure.
The legislation would not increase funding for the Homeland Security Department, which funds construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.