Senate passes trio of government funding bills as shutdown looms

The Senate on Wednesday passed the long-awaited minibus, the package combining three of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the government.

The upper chamber passed the bill by an 82 to 15 vote following a monthslong effort to get it across the finish line. Senate leadership spent much of October negotiating to overcome about 70 holds on the minibus, which later went through dozens of votes on the bill’s 41 amendments.

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The House and Senate have less than a month to pass their 12 respective appropriations bills and deliver them to the conference committee, where legislation is sent to sort out differences. Should lawmakers miss that deadline, the government will run out of money and shut down.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME) began working on the minibus in September, as Congress appeared to be barreling toward a government shutdown. Both chambers had been appropriating at different funding levels, setting them up for a showdown when the bills reached conference.

That showdown has been repeatedly delayed, mostly due to the House experiencing its speaker fight. The House had already passed all 12 of its appropriations bills when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted last month. Those bills were written in a partisan fashion and passed without Democratic support, which will be necessary for the legislation to survive in the Democrat-led Senate.

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The Senate, meanwhile, passed all 12 of its bipartisan bills through the Senate Appropriations Committee and began work of packaging them together in smaller batches. This first minibus covers funding bills for agriculture, military construction and veterans affairs, and transportation and housing.

Collins and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have both said they expect the chamber to take up another minibus following the first one’s passage.