The Archive

News: Senate leaders have locked in an agreement to pass the nearly $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package today, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on the floor Thursday morning.

This process – which will include up to 18 votes – is expected to take several hours and drag into the afternoon.

Yet final passage will allow senators to complete their work for the year and head home for Christmas. And it draws a curtain on the 117th Congress, a tumultuous period during which the Senate was split at 50-50 for far longer than any other time in its history.

The Senate deal on the 4,155-page package – which funds federal agencies through Sept. 30 – could head to the House as soon as tonight.

It’s not yet clear whether the House will take up the bill today, House Democratic leadership sources told us. It takes the Senate several hours to process the legislation and send it across the Capitol. The House Rules Committee then has to hold a meeting and enact a rule for considering the legislation. The House will need to debate and vote on a rule, followed by debate and vote on the underlying bill. This would be a hours-long process.

Still, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sent an alert to colleagues that the House “is expected to consider” the omnibus “on Thursday.”

The final snag in scheduling a Senate vote on the omnibus package came during the last 24 hours. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) insisted on an amendment to keep Title 42 – a pandemic-era policy used to expel migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border – in place. Adoption of Lee’s amendment could have undermined the entire legislation.

But Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) crafted a “side-by-side” amendment, boosting money for border security. Sinema and Tester’s amendment is aimed at giving Democrats something to vote for while opposing Lee’s proposal. It will essentially cancel out Lee’s amendment.

Here is the list of amendments, some of which will be voice-voted, that will be considered before final passage:

→	Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) disaster relief supplemental was voted down, 73-22. This was held at a 60-vote threshold.

→	Motion to waive the budget point of order with respect to the omnibus. 60 votes.

→	Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) amendment to change the threshold for budget points of order. 60 votes.

→	Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) amendment to strike earmarks, which will be held at a simple majority vote.

→	Johnson’s amendment to remove funds that are used to transport migrants. 60 votes.

→	The amendment by Sinema and Tester to plus-up border security funding. 60 votes.

→	Lee’s Title 42 amendment. Majority vote.

→	Lee’s amendment to restore pay to Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who is being held in Japan. Majority vote.

→	Sen. James Lankford’s (R-Okla.) amendment on religious liberty held at a simple majority threshold.

→	Sen. Mike Braun’s (R-Ind.) amendment restoring 11th Amendment protections. 60 votes.

→	Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) Pregnant Fairness Workers Act. 60 votes.

→	Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) have an amendment to give more flexibility to state, local, tribal and territorial governments for pandemic-era funding. 60 votes.

→	Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) amendment on Ukraine. 60 votes.

→	Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-Ore.) amendment to insert the PUMP Act into the bill. The act – the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections Act – would provide nursing mothers places to pump in the workplace. 60 votes.

→	Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Lee have an amendment that changes the merger fee filing rules. 60 votes.

→	Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) World Trade Center Health Program Supplemental Fund amendment. 60 votes.

→	Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) Fairness for 9/11 Families bill. 60 votes.

→	Final passage, which will be at a 60-vote threshold.

– Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio, Max Cohen and John Bresnahan

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