The Senate passed a package of fiscal 2019 spending bills that lawmakers hope will mark an end to a years-long pattern of partisan funding fights.
In an 86-5 vote, senators approved the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019, a group of three spending bills lawmakers are calling a minibus. The name comes from the typical omnibus spending package of all 12 spending bills lawmakers typically end up passing at the last minute.
The legislation passed Monday makes up a quarter of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the government and is considered the easiest trio to win the needed bipartisan approval in the Senate, which has long struggled to pass them and failed to clear any last year.
“The process thus far has been governed by levelheaded bipartisanship,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “I am optimistic the same will be true for the nine remaining appropriations measures. Great progress has already been made at the committee level, and I look forward to considering more legislation on the floor soon.”
Senate lawmakers are speeding through the appropriations process and anticipate committee approval of all 12 appropriations bills by the end of this week.
“That is what is possible when there is a commitment to making this place work,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, a member of the spending panel.
Senators praised the minibus as a major step forward for a Senate that has been gridlocked on spending for many years. The agreement comes after closed-door, bipartisan leadership meetings aimed at getting the appropriations process moving. The deal was also facilitated by a deal on spending caps Republicans and Democrats in Congress approved in March.
“This is somewhere we have not been for a number of years,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
The package of spending bills included dozens of bipartisan amendments, and it will have to be reconciled with a version the House passed earlier in June.
“I’m optimistic we can do that in short order,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
Shelby said the legislation moved smoothly because both parties agreed to leave out “poison pill” provisions that have traditionally led to either party blocking spending legislation.
“This is the way to avoid catchall spending measures and shutdowns we all detest,” Shelby said. “This is simply what the American people expect both parties to do.”
Shelby warned that the chamber must now pass the remaining nine bills and partisan politics “could snake its way back in,” but he added, “we have a viable path forward here.”
The House this week is scheduled to approve fiscal 2019 Defense Department spending.
