Politics

$1.1 trillion spending bill passes Senate: 72-26

Alexis Levinson Political Reporter
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The Senate passed the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill on Thursday, funding the government through September and successfully staving off all talk of a shutdown between now and then.

The bill passed 72-26, with all no votes coming from Republicans. The spending bill passed the House on Wednesday by a vote of 359-67.

The passage of the bill marks the culmination of months of bipartisan work following the government shutdown in October. Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray, the chairs of the Budget Committee in their respective chambers, crafted a compromise budget with which both sides had objections but on which both could agree. Then Appropriations Committee chairs Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Hal Rogers stepped in to assign how all of that money would be spent.

The resulting bill is 1,582 pages.

Just before the vote, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz offered up two amendments to the bill: one to defund Obamacare, and the second to defund Obamacare and put the money toward making up the cuts to military pensions. It was objected to, and the Senate moved on to voting on the omnibus bill.

A number of Republicans who voted against it complained that the bill blew through the spending caps congress had previously imposed.

“I cannot support a funding bill that violates the only real progress we have made in getting our fiscal house in order over the past several years,” said Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, a ‘no’ vote on the bill, in a statement. “Instead of building on the gains we made in 2011, limiting discretionary spending, I’m very disappointed the Executive Branch and Congress continue to push for higher spending levels, like those contained in this bill, without enacting meaningful changes to mandatory programs that our country so desperately needs.”

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said the bill simply perpetuated Washington’s big spending ways.

“This omnibus spending deal does a great job of letting Washington grow bigger, more in debt and more dysfunctional for another year, but it’s a terrible way to make the American Dream a reality for more Americans,” he said. “It allows Washington to keep spending more money than it takes in, does nothing to encourage broad-based economic growth, nothing to save our retirement programs, and actually places more financial burdens on working class Americans.”

The bill now heads to the White House, where President Barack Obama has said he will sign it into law.

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