Senate reaches deal to start voting on appropriations package

WASHINGTON — Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Tuesday that Senate leaders had reached an agreement paving the way for floor consideration of its three-bill spending “minibus,” a breakthrough after weeks of stalemate.

With the agreement in place, the Senate can start floor consideration of the package that would combine the fiscal 2024 Military Constructionva, Agriculture, and Transportation-hud appropriations bills. The House-passed Military Construction-va bill is being used as the legislative vehicle for the spending package.

“It took a while to work through … negotiations on many poison pill amendments that, in my judgment, shouldn’t have been offered to begin with,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor. “But here we are, we’re moving forward.”

Schumer said votes on amendments to the spending package could start as soon as Wednesday morning.

The agreement provides for the consideration of about 40 amendments, six of which would need 60 votes to be adopted.

The three bills would be the first fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation to pass the Senate. The

House has passed four bills, one of them being a Homeland Security measure that it is not sending on until the

Senate takes action on a House border security bill.

Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-wash., took the floor to praise the deal and remind colleagues of the need to pass the remaining appropriations bills, along with supplemental spending legislation to send aid to Israel and Ukraine, and a second to shore up domestic programs, including child care.

“Bipartisanship is the only way to get the job done in a divided government,” Murray said.