Senate misses funding deadline but hammers out last-minute deal to pass $1.2T spending package

The Senate missed the midnight deadline to fund the government on Friday, but will vote on the $1.2 trillion funding package early Saturday morning to halt a partial shutdown. 

Senate Republicans pressured Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, to allow for the chance to vote on a slew of amendments. Mr. Schumer relented, striking an eleventh-hour deal to allow Republicans 13 amendment votes and ward off a partial government shutdown. 

“It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government,” Mr. Schumer said. “It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight, our persistence has been worth it.”

The amendment votes are expected to take hours, meaning that the Senate will likely not vote on the spending bill until early Saturday morning. 

The funding package, which includes spending measures for the Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, Foreign Operations, the IRS, Congress and Labor, narrowly passed the GOP-led House Friday morning, and is expected to pass in the Democrat-led Senate. 

Republicans contended throughout the hourslong delay that Mr. Schumer gave vulnerable Senators running for reelection a “hall pass” on what are likely politically volatile amendment votes — the GOP was demanding votes on border security amendments, like adopting the Laken Riley Act or preventing taxpayer money from paying for migrants to fly into the country. 

“I think as a general rule, they just have a lot of people they’re trying to shield from taking hard votes, and that’s the season we’re in,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said. “But it’s unfortunate because you got a really big bill that hasn’t had an opportunity for any amendments in the Senate.”

But Mr. Schumer’s deal with Republicans nixed the more contentious amendment votes, instead allowing a safe vote for vulnerable Democrats. 

If any of the amendments should pass, which some lawmakers speculate they could, the bill would have to be sent back to the House. But one major problem lies within that scenario: Lawmakers in the lower skipped town for a two-week recess almost immediately after passing the spending package earlier Friday. 

Republicans blamed one Democrat in particular for the hold-up on amendment votes: Sen. Jon Tester of Montana. 

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, squarely blamed Mr. Tester for the delay, while Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, was more generous, pointing the finger at fellow vulnerable Democrat Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. 

“If they pass, they pass, but the reason why we’re not having votes … is because they don’t want people like Jon Tester, Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey to have to cast those votes, that’s the bottom line,” Mr. Cotton said. 

Mr. Tester called foul on claims that he was at the center of the amendment debacle, contending that he did not know what amendments were even being negotiated. 

“Did [Sen. Tom] Cotton say that they’re holding amendments because of Jon Tester, because if he did he might be full of something that comes out of the back of a cow,” Mr. Tester said.