WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress gave final approval Friday to a giant $1.3 trillion spending bill that ends the budget battles for now, but only after late obstacles skirted close to another shutdown as conservatives objected to big outlays on Democratic priorities at a time when Republicans control the House, Senate and White House.
Senate passage shortly after midnight averted a third federal shutdown this year, an outcome both parties wanted to avoid. But in crafting a sweeping deal that busts budget caps, they’ve stirred conservative opposition and set the contours for the next funding fight ahead of the midterm elections.
Alexander reacts to spending bill
“This funding for our national defense, national parks, national laboratories, and the National Institutes of Health is within the new budget spending caps and grows at about the rate of inflation. The federal debt problem, which is the real problem, is the result of runaway federal entitlement spending, which is not part of this funding bill.”- U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
U.S. Sen. Lamar AlexanderThe House easily approved the measure Thursday, 256-167, a bipartisan tally that underscored the popularity of the compromise, which funds the government through September. It beefs up military and domestic programs, delivering federal funds to every corner of the country.
But action stalled in the Senate, as conservatives ran the clock in protest. Then, an unusual glitch arose when Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, wanted to remove a provision to rename a forest in his home state after the late Cecil Andrus, a four-term Democratic governor.