The United States Senate has passed a stop-gap piece of spending legislation meant to buy legislators another week, as Congress seeks to hammer out details of a second set of appropriations bills in March.
via ABC News:
The final vote tally was 77-13. The measure now heads to the president's desk.[...]
The new funding deadlines for the government spending bills are now March 8 and March 22.Congress will now return next week to finish working on the first tranche of six funding bills that are due by March 8.
As we wrote earlier on Thursday, the House passed a similar bill by Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, with the aid of Democrats in the lower chamber, by a tally of 320-99:
READ MORE: House Passes Short-Term CR Bill, One Day Before Deadline on Shutdown
Voting against the bill were these Republicans:
GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Ted Budd (N.C.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ted Cruz (Texas), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Tommy Turberville (Ala.) and J.D. Vance (Ohio) voted against the measure.
Before the vote: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said:
This agreement is proof that when … bipartisanship is prioritized, when getting things done for the American people takes a high priority, good things can happen, even in divided government.
He added that he disagreed with those saying "this should take a very long time.”
The passage of this first bill comes just a day after longtime Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would be stepping down from his role in November.
READ: BREAKING: Mitch McConnell to Step Down As Senate GOP Leader
As this is a breaking story, RedState will bring you further details as they become available.
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