Senate Passes $1.4 Trillon Spending Bills To Avoid A Government Shutdown

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a $1.4 trillion spending package to fund the government, sending it to President Trump and averting a second government shutdown.

Trump needs to sign the bills before end of the day Friday to keep federal departments running. The White House has indicated that he would sign it before the deadline ends.

The spending bill passed by the Senate has two measures. The first one, which covers eight appropriations bills, was passed by a 71-23 vote. The second has four appropriation bills including funding for the Pentagon, and was passed in an 81-11 vote.

The vote caps months of negotiations, and the measures contain about a $1.4 billion allocation for fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border. A group of Democrats had opposed the allocation, leading to the drawn out negotiations but Congress appeared keen to avoid another shutdown in the midst of the impeachment process.

Opposition over spending on border barriers had led to a partial government shutdown that lasted for a little over a month last year.

The Department of Homeland Security bill, which is part of the second package, keeps the fundign for the physical border barriers at the same level as in the last fiscal year. It also imposes no restriction on President Trump's use of emergency powers to redirect defense funds for the border wall.

“A lot of hard work brought this appropriations process back from the brink,” The Hill reported Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as saying. “This legislation touches all 50 states. This is why full-year funding bills are better than chronic CRs.”

Congressional leaders had suggested a stopgap continuing resolution (CR) as an alternative to a massive spending deal earlier this week.

The Democratic-controlled House had passed the bills Tuesday. The first eight-bill package provides $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health for gun violence research, which is seen as a major victory for Democrats. It will also eliminate the 2010 Affordable Care Act's "Cadillac tax."

Trump had threatened not to sign another omnibus legislation, making it necessary to break down the 12 bills into two.