Earlier last week, it was expected that the Senate would pass its version of the first “minibus” spending package for FY2019, composed of the Energy and Water, Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch bills, by the end of the week. Late last Thursday, however, as a result of drawn out debates on partisan amendments related to “Waters of the U.S.” regulation and funding for the “veterans choice” program, the Senate leadership decided to postpone further debate on the measure until this week. The Senate is scheduled to take up the package again later this evening.
Although floor action on the spending package was postponed, the Senate appropriators continued to make progress in committee last week, as they approved three more spending bills: Homeland Security, Financial Services and General Government, and State and Foreign Operations.
More action on the appropriations is expected this week as Appropriations committees in both chambers are scheduled to take up their respective versions of the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill this week.