The Senate passed a short-term spending bill that will fund the government through Wednesday, averting a shutdown while the chamber debates a bill to fund the government.
The bill on the short-term funding will now go to President Barack Obama for his signature. Without the short-term measure, funding was slated to dry up Saturday evening.
The Senate is expected to vote Monday on the $1.1 trillion package, which has already passed the House, Sens. Mitch McConnell and Barbara Mikulski said late Friday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a procedural move to set up a vote on final passage in the Senate no later than Monday.
McConnell, the incoming Senate majority leader, had reached a deal with Reid to adjourn for the weekend and resume Monday to clear the bill.
Late-night maneuver
But in a surprise development, some of McConnell’s junior members defied the agreement after he left.
Reid tried to get unanimous consent for an adjournment until Monday when there would be enough votes to end a filibuster, but Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, objected because Reid would not guarantee a vote on an amendment dealing with immigration funding.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas also joined the objection, forcing the Senate to meet on Saturday.
Reid then announced to an almost empty chamber that the Senate would be in session beginning at noon Saturday.
Will the government keep operating?
The Senate was facing a Saturday deadline to approve the spending bill and avert a government shutdown, but that was pushed back.
The chamber has been sifting through many of the same arguments that tied up the House on Thursday, when disagreements over immigration and provisions related to Wall Street and campaign finance nearly derailed the bill. Senate lawmakers wanted votes on amendments that would address those issues.
Two votes are expected Monday: a procedural vote to block a filibuster and end debate on the bill, and a second one on the final passage.
‘Using every tool available’
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, filed an amendment that would strip a provision that softens financial regulations on banks from the spending bill.
“Congress should not put taxpayers on the hook for another bailout, and this giveaway that was drafted by Citigroup lobbyists has no place in a critical government funding bill,” Warren said.
Cruz, a chief critic of Obama’s recent executive action on immigration, also said he wanted a vote to block it.
“I think it is critical that the Senate have the opportunity to have a clear up or down vote on funding President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty,” he told reporters. “I am using every tool available to help bring about that vote.”
But by making the procedural move, Reid prevented those amendments from being considered. Amendment votes could have been risky, because if either measure passed, the spending bill would have to go back to the House to be voted on again.
While the House is technically in session, most members have left Washington until the new Congress convenes in early January.
A day after his administration scrambled to save the bill when it appeared it might be defeated in the House, the President said he was pulling for it in the Senate.
“I’m glad it passed the House and am hopeful that it will pass the Senate,” Obama said.
