The Senate passed a preliminary vote Tuesday on a slate of bipartisan funding bills in an effort to display a united front amid the spending standoff with House Republicans, leaving the two chambers only a number of days to come up with a deal that will keep the federal government open past the Sept. 30 deadline.
By a vote of 85-12, the Senate took the first procedural hurdle in passing the legislation. The twelve Senators who voted “no” were all Republicans, including Sens. Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Cynthia Lummis (R-WI), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Tim Scott (R-SC), Rick Scott (R-FL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
The bills would fund the Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development departments within the budget caps laid out in the debt ceiling deal negotiated by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Lawmakers believe passing a strong bipartisan vote will send a message to House Republicans, some of whom are calling for billions of dollars in additional spending cuts and policy changes.
“Together we collaborated closely with members on both sides of the aisle, on and off the committees to get input from nearly every senator and wrote strong bipartisan bills,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the chairwoman of the Appropriations Panel, during a press conference on Tuesday.
The vote on the $280 billion government funding bill still has to move through final passage and then would be sent back to the House, where Republicans have already rejected the spending levels they previously agreed to as part of the debt limit bill. In addition, the vote includes only three of the dozen annual spending bills Congress must approve every year.
“This month, one of the top Senate priorities will be to keep the government open beyond the September 30 deadline,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on Tuesday. “Both chambers are going to need to work together in a bipartisan way to avoid a shutdown. That is obvious. It may not be obvious to the 30 crazy people in the far-right Republican House. But, it’s obvious to everyone else.”
The final passage of this “minibus” of three bills could come as soon as next week. However, senators must come to an agreement to ensure the process moves quickly.
This vote technically does not address Congress’s most imminent problem, the looming government shutdown. Previously, lawmakers agreed they’d likely need a stopgap government funding bill to keep the government’s lights on past the Sept. 30 deadline.
Members of the House’s Freedom Caucus have already pledged to oppose a temporary measure if it does not cut funding or include new reforms at the southern border and restrictions on prosecuting former President Donald Trump. Making matters even more complicated, Senators on both sides of the aisle want the temporary funding measure to include billions of dollars in funding for Ukraine, a nonstarter for some House Republicans.
There are only a limited number of legislative days left for Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill or the government will run out of funding. Some Republican Senators said the House should move forward with a stopgap measure first.
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“We’re all trying to give as much space as possible to the House to determine how they want to proceed,” Sen. John Thune (R-SD) told reporters earlier this week, emphasizing action on a short-term funding bill is likely to happen close to the deadline on Oct. 1.
“I think that’s one of those issues when it comes together, it’ll come together quickly, but until then, there’s just a lot of discussions and conversations around, you know, what’s the best way to get it done?” he added.
