Senate OKs bill funding agencies until October

Almost six months after the beginning of the fiscal year, the Senate Tuesday drew a line under the fiscal 2009 appropriations process after they approved a $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill, sending it to President Obama for his signature.

The Senate approved the bill on a voice vote after voting 62-35 to cut off debate. Senate action on the package came after Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., postponed a scheduled vote Thursday after realizing he did not have the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture.

Three Democrats -- Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and Evan Bayh of Indiana -- voted against cloture. Eight Republicans voted to cut off debate: Appropriations ranking member Thad Cochran and Sen. Roger Wicker, both of Mississippi; and Sens. Christopher (Kit) Bond of Missouri, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Olympia Snowe of Maine. Of that group, all but Wicker and Snowe are appropriators.

Senate passage also prevented Congress from having to pass another continuing resolution. The current CR, which is funding at fiscal 2008 levels programs covered by the nine fiscal 2009 spending bills in the omnibus, expires at midnight Wednesday.

Three of the appropriations bills -- Defense, Military Construction-VA and Homeland Security -- were included with the CR Congress passed in September. The House passed the package last month.

The omnibus fight was tougher than expected for Democrats, Reid acknowledged. "It's been surprising," he said.

The struggle indicates Democrats face a tough fight passing Obama's fiscal 2010 budget, a fact indicated by both parties' decision to trot out budget talking points before completing votes on the omnibus.

At a briefing Tuesday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Budget ranking member Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said several times the budget "spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much." Democrats, meanwhile, stepped up accusations of GOP obstructionism. "Saying 'no' to everything is not a way to move this country forward," Reid said.

The Democratic National Committee offered a similar take, citing "50 days of GOP obstructionism" since Obama took office. "Republicans in Washington have chosen to follow Rush Limbaugh's obstructionist politics every step of the way," the DNC said in a release.

Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday remained focused on repelling amendments to the omnibus, which would have required the House to vote on the bill again before the president could sign it.

The Senate defeated six amendments, including a bid from Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to require Congress to vote on cost-of-living pay increases, which occur automatically. The Senate voted 52-45 to table the amendment.

Prior to that vote, Reid sought to pass, by unanimous consent, a similar bill as stand-alone legislation.

"By passing this legislation as stand-alone, it can become law without threatening completion of this appropriations bill," Reid said.

But Vitter objected and argued that Reid's bill would not likely be considered in the House and was just a way to provide political cover for senators to oppose Vitter's amendment.

"The best way to get it into law is to put it in a must-pass bill," he said.

The Senate also batted down, 50-47, an amendment from Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to prevent the FCC from using omnibus funds to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, which would force broadcasters to give varied political views equal time.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., offered an amendment to extend authorization for the E-Verify program for five years, which was tabled, 50-47. The omnibus extends authorization through the end of fiscal 2009 for the program, which allows employers to check the citizenship status of employees.

An amendment from Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to strike language prohibiting the use of omnibus funds for the District of Columbia's school voucher program before it is reauthorized, which Republicans claim would kill the program, was also rejected, 58-39.

The Senate also defeated two amendments by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, including a proposal to prohibit state attorneys general from entering into contingency fee agreements with experts or outside counsel. The Senate rejected the amendment 64-32. The other Cornyn amendment, which failed 59-38, would have prohibited omnibus funds from being used to pay for the portion of a Jan. 30 executive order relaxing regulations requiring federal contractors to post signs that non-union workers in union shops can seek a refund of union dues used for political activities.

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., withdrew his amendment to require the secretary of state to issue a report on investments by foreign companies in the energy sector of Iran.

Passage of the bill came after Senate Democratic leaders secured the support of Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who had both backed away from voting for the package due to language that would loosen restrictions on travel to Cuba. The senators got behind the omnibus after being assured by Treasury Secretary Geithner that the agency would do its best to ensure the provisions would not benefit the regime of Raul and Fidel Castro.

"I would have preferred that the [Cuba] provisions not be in this bill at all, but the assurances that I have received from Secretary Geithner have allayed my most significant concerns and I will vote in favor of the omnibus appropriations bill," Menendez said.

Nelson also agreed that the assurances were enough to allow him to support "badly needed operational funding for the U.S. government and so many other important initiatives."