Senate passes 4 spending bills amid continued border wall fight

The Senate on Thursday took a first step toward advancing some government funding, passing a bipartisan package of bills that would pay for the operations of major agencies such as Agriculture, Transportation and Interior.

But the vast majority of government spending is still ensnared by partisan disputes over how to pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall and his ability to shuffle federal money around to build that barrier, as well as decisions on how much to allocate for big domestic priorities like health care.

Current government funding lasts through Nov. 21, and congressional leaders agree that another short-term funding fix before the end of the year or through early next year will be needed as appropriations talks continue. That stopgap would have to be passed to avert another government shutdown.

The Senate passed a four-bill minibus in an 84-9 vote that wraps together four of the dozen appropriations bills that fund the government — Agriculture-FDA, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment and Transportation-HUD.

They are the first fiscal 2020 spending bills to make it through the Senate this year.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has said passage of the non-controversial minibus could inject new life into gridlocked negotiations with the House and kick-start conference talks, at least on the bipartisan four-bill bundle.

Behind the scenes, congressional leaders are hoping to finish all 12 appropriations bills by year‘s end, although the House and Senate have yet to agree on bipartisan, bicameral funding levels for those bills.

White House officials met with Republican and Democratic aides from both the House and Senate on Tuesday to discuss outstanding issues, although there’s no consensus on whether any progress was made or not.

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine