The conference report for the package that contains the first three appropriations bills of FY2019– Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs– was quickly adopted by the Senate yesterday by a vote of 92 to 5. An agreement between the House and Senate negotiators was reached on it earlier this week.
The House is scheduled to take up the measure later today and is expected to clear it by Friday, clearing it for the President’s signature. As noted above, these three bills, if signed into law, would represent the first spending bills approved for FY2019, which starts on Oct 1.
On a related note, House and Senate conferees are scheduled to formally meet today on two other sets of spending bills. The first combines the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education and Defense bills and second pulls together the Interior, Agriculture, Transportation-Housing, and Financial Services bills.