WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Thursday to pass a $1.7 trillion government funding bill, sending it to the House to avoid a holiday shutdown.
The vote was 68-29 on sweeping legislation that will keep the government funded through next fall and overhaul election laws in an attempt to prevent another Jan. 6. It came after votes on a potpourri of amendments, including landmark workplace protections for pregnant and breastfeeding employees.
The bill also includes nearly $45 billion of additional military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
“From start to finish — from top to bottom — this omnibus is bold, generous, far-reaching and ambitious,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “It’s not everything we would’ve wanted, of course. When you’re dealing in a bipartisan, bicameral way, you have to sit down and get it done, and that means each side has to concede some things.”
The legislation has divided the Republican Party, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky endorsing it and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California pushing to torpedo it as he courts right-wing votes to become speaker.
“This is an impressive outcome for the Republican negotiators,” McConnell said, praising the bill’s defense spending increases relative to domestic nondefense funding as a victory for the GOP.
The bill overcame a last-minute snag late Wednesday over a GOP-demanded amendment to keep the Trump-era Title 42 border policy in place. Democrats agreed to hold a vote on their amendment, alongside a Democratic alternative amendment. Both failed, and the delicate coalition for the bill stayed intact. But other amendments were approved.
