Senate Democrats agree to advance military construction, veterans spending bill

The Hill

5 days ago

Senate Democrats on Tuesday cautiously agreed to advance bipartisan legislation funding military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs, less than a week after Republicans rammed through a partisan bill to defund PBS, NPR and global aid programs.
Thirty-eight Democrats voted for a motion to proceed to the bill after holding a long lunchtime meeting in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Room just off the Senate floor to hash out their strategy. The legislation advanced by a vote of 90 to 8.
The bill, which provides $153.5 billion in discretionary funding, passed out of the Appropriations Committee with a 26-3 bipartisan vote.
It's the first appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026 to advance on the Senate floor.
It includes $342 million to support improved access to rural health care, $3.5 billion for the Veterans Affairs Department to help caregivers, and $3.5 billion to provide services and housing to homeless veterans.
Democrats agreed to advance the legislation even though many of them are still furious at their GOP colleagues for passing a rescissions package last week that claws back $9 billion in funding Congress had previously approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and global aid programs.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) defended the legislation for being crafted with input from Democrats on the Appropriations panel.
'First, it was done in a bipartisan process, no question about it. Second, it undoes many of the awful DOGE cuts to veterans and, third, we'll have an amendment process,' he said, noting that Democrats only voted for the motion to begin a floor debate on the legislation.
Senior Democrats voted for to proceed to the bill, including Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray (Wash.) and Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Jack Reed (R.I.), and Chris Coons (Del.).
Several progressives voted against moving the bill, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
But Democrats are warning that just because they voted to begin the floor debate on the bill doesn't mean they'll vote to pass it, especially if Republicans block their ability to offer amendments.
Merkley, the ranking member of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, plans to offer an amendment that would prevent the Trump administration from offering additional rescissions packages under the Impoundment Control Act to claw back funds already allocated by Congress.
Schumer argued on the floor Tuesday that Republicans were undercutting efforts to pass bipartisan appropriations bills by pushing rescissions packages.
'We will see how the floor process evolves here on the floor. Given Republicans' recent actions undermining bipartisan appropriations, nothing is guaranteed,' he said.
He accused his Republican counterpart, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) of 'sort of talking out of both sides of his mouth' by urging Democrats to support the regular appropriations process but also pushing partisan bills to gut past funding agreements.
'On the one hand, Leader Thune says he wants bipartisanship. Then on the other, he's pushing rescissions packages here on the floor. He's allowing party-line votes to reverse bipartisan funding agreements. Well, you can't have it both ways,' Schumer warned.