The Senate approved a temporary funding bill to keep federal agencies operating into early December, moving to head off a government shutdown as campaign season intensifies.
WASHINGTON — In a late-night Saturday vote, the Senate passed a short-term spending measure that would keep the federal government funded through the opening weeks of December, averting the risk of a disruptive shutdown in the heart of an election-year campaign stretch.
The timing was notably early by congressional standards. Lawmakers typically wait until the last days — and often the final hours — before a funding deadline to approve stopgap spending bills. This time, senators moved nearly two months before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
The lopsided 90-6 vote underscored how eager members of both parties are to avoid another shutdown after two historic funding lapses earlier this year, particularly with voters preparing to cast ballots.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune had pushed to settle the funding issue before senators left Washington for a five-week break, when many will return home to campaign or attend to other business. Although unrelated disputes delayed votes into the night, the measure ultimately drew broad bipartisan backing. The House must still pass the bill when lawmakers return from their August recess before it can be sent to President Donald Trump for his signature.
The legislation would largely maintain federal spending at existing levels through Dec. 11, while also including several exceptions worked out between senators and the White House.
Democrats won provisions barring the transfer of funds to the Border Patrol. They also blocked a White House request for $1 billion to begin preliminary work on a new “Trump-class” battleship, a project the administration announced on Dec. 22.
“The only person who wants these golden ships is Donald Trump so he can slap his name on them,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.
Hemp provision became a point of contention
The bill also includes language delaying a national ban on most intoxicating hemp products. That one-month delay prompted outrage from some Senate Republicans who say that too many such products are falling into the hands of often unsuspecting children. The packaging of the products often relies on bright colors and intentionally mimics popular snack brands to attract consumers.
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said that since 2017 there has been nearly a 10-fold increase in cannabis-related emergency room visits by minors in his home state.
“This is a public health crisis that deserves this Senate’s immediate attention,” Budd said. “Our children should never be the testing ground for an industry willing to exploit a loophole in federal law for profit.”
But the hemp industry said the delay buys time for Congress to craft legislation that protects hemp farmers and businesses while also putting in place safeguards to protect children.
Trump himself has called Budd to discuss the issue, though the president did not specifically ask the senator to drop his effort, Budd’s spokesman said.
“Senator Budd had a friendly phone call with President Trump discussing the legislative efforts regarding THC,” said spokesman Christian McMullen. He said the senator outlined his concerns about “any delay to closing the hemp loophole.”
Budd tried to strip the hemp delay from the bill, but the Senate turned aside his effort.
The bill delays a Trump administration rule on grants
Democratic lawmakers, along with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also got language in the bill that would block, for the duration of the funding patch, new regulations on federal grants. The regulations would require a senior political appointee to review grants before they are awarded to ensure, among other things, that they advance the president’s policy priorities. Democrats worry it’s an effort to kill grants destined for Democratic-leaning states.
“They are not interested in making our tax dollars work better — they just want them to work for Donald Trump,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The White House Office of Management and Budget says its effort is about improving accountability to ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted or misused. The issue is sure to be a topic of future negotiations on a full-year spending measure.
But Collins said the vast majority of the nearly 500,000 people and groups weighing in on the rule are opposed to it.
“I don’t think in my time that I’ve been privileged to serve in the Senate that I have ever seen a proposed rule generate that many negative comments,” Collins said.
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