Senate passes massive spending bill in push to end August session early – By Susan Ferrechio (washingtonexaminer.com) / Aug 23 2018
The Senate passed a spending bill for fiscal 2019. (AP Photo)
The Senate on Thursday passed a massive spending bill that will fund the Departments of Defense, Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services Departments for fiscal 2019, in the hopes of quickly wrapping up their rare August work session in Washington.
The only thing left they need to do is work out a deal to consider a long list of Trump administration nominees. If they can reach a deal Thursday, the Senate would not have to convene next week, which was supposed to be its final week at work this month.
Senators were expected to stay at work Thursday evening in the hopes of working out an arrangement on nominations. If a deal is there, the Senate would not be expected to return until after Labor Day, when the House is also scheduled to reconvene.
Staying in session this month has put the Senate in a position in which it has now passed nine of the 12 federal spending bills, which will help Congress avoid a year-end funding fight. That’s a big improvement from 2018, when the Senate passed no spending bills on time — the Senate had not passed a Labor, Health and Human Services bill on time in 15 years.
“This is a milestone here today,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
The Defense-Labor legislation coupled two major, unrelated appropriations bills in a “must-pass” package that ultimately ended years of spending gridlock.
The legislation includes $675 billion in Pentagon funding and a $179 billion package for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. It boosts defense spending by $20.4 billion over 2018 levels, allowing for a 2.6 percent pay raise for the military and 1.9 percent raise for civilian defense workers. It also provides $135 billion to modernize the nation’s military capabilities and $24 billion for shipbuilding, among other spending.
Outside of defense, the legislation raises Health and Human Services funding by $2.3 billion and adds a $541 million increase to the Department of Education. All told, the legislation provides more than half of all anticipated fiscal 2019 federal spending.
Lawmakers passed the bill after a day-long fight over amendments.
Republican and Democratic leaders ultimately agreed to hold a vote on an amendment by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have excluded federal funding from organizations that provide abortions, such as Planned Parenthood.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, initially proposed that the amendment be subject to a 50-vote threshold instead of the 60-vote one. However, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., objected to that move and the leadership made a deal to bring up Paul’s amendment with the 60-vote threshold.
The amendment failed in a 45-48 vote, far short of the 60 votes that were needed.
Senate leaders rejected consideration of a provision authored by politically embattled Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., that would have required the Senate’s counsel to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Texas and 19 other states to strike down Obamacare. The lawsuit charges that since the financial penalty for Obamacare’s individual mandate that everyone gets insurance goes away in 2019, the rest of the law should be struck down.
Manchin is engaged in a tough re-election race this fall and has talked up his support for Obamacare’s pre-existing conditions in recent days. West Virginia is one of the 20 states suing to strike down Obamacare, and Manchin’s opponent is the state’s Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
