Senators have agreed to vote on more than a dozen amendments to a $1.7 trillion spending bill, teeing up a Thursday vote with just hours left to avert a government shutdown.
Lawmakers are barreling toward a Friday deadline to pass the omnibus, which would extend government funding until September, to the chagrin of conservative Republicans, who were pushing for a stopgap measure that extends funding into early next year, when Republicans take control of the House.
TITLE 42 BECOMES FLASHPOINT IN OMNIBUS NEGOTIATIONS AS SHUTDOWN DEADLINE LOOMS
Conservative senators won votes on a number of amendments to the funding bill, brokered by Senate leadership to fast-track consideration of the bill. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) had held up negotiations into late Wednesday night over a proposed amendment on Title 42, the pandemic immigration policy that allows the administration to turn away illegal immigrants at the border, but the impasse broke Thursday morning.
“I think we won the battle here, particularly among conservatives and Republicans,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told CNN.
Once it passes the Senate, the House could take up the spending bill as soon as Thursday night. Lawmakers had been hoping to leave town for the holidays with winter weather threatening flight cancellations.
“It looks like we might be done tonight, but not in time probably to catch flights,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told Democrats, according to Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), who spoke with Politico about the timing.
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The legislation includes an additional $45 billion for the war in Ukraine, higher than what President Joe Biden requested, and $41 billion for disaster relief. The Electoral Count Reform Act, a bipartisan bill designed to make it more difficult to overturn a presidential election, made it into the final legislation, as did Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) measure banning the use of TikTok on government devices.
The passage of the bill will cap off a busy week on Capitol Hill, following a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to a joint session of Congress, the release of the Jan. 6 committee’s final report, and a vote to make public former President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
