Senate Leaders Reach Funding Deal      08/03 06:14

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Key senators unveiled a short-term spending bill on 
Sunday that would keep federal agencies funded past the midterm elections and 
into early December as they look to avoid a government shutdown during the 
middle of campaign season.

   The Senate is likely to vote on the measure before leaving Washington at 
week's end for its traditional August recess, a period that many lawmakers want 
to spend shoring up their reelection prospects rather than working in the 
nation's capital.

   The bill generally funds the federal government at current levels though 
Dec. 11. The House has passed a similar measure, but it did not include various 
exceptions sought by the White House. Senators have been spending recent days 
negotiating which of those exceptions to include.

   One exception that did not make it into the bill, Democrats noted, was the 
administration's request to include $1 billion to build "Trump-class" 
battleships.

   In another major difference with the House bill, Democrats say they also 
were able to include language that will ensure the administration cannot 
transfer funds from other programs to the Border Patrol.

   The late-summer action on a funding fix is unusual. Normally, Congress waits 
until the final days or hours of a funding deadline to pass short-term funding 
extensions, but this time senators are acting two months before the end of the 
fiscal year on Sept. 30.

   Senate Majority Leader John Thune said passing the measure was his top 
priority going into the August recess. He noted that the American people have 
already experienced two record-breaking government shutdowns in the past 10 
months.

   "We need to ensure that they do not face a third," Thune said.

   Both parties want to avoid another shutdown

   A short-term funding extension is needed because Congress has struggled to 
get the dozen annual appropriations bills negotiated and approved before the 
Sept. 30 deadline. By extending government funding now, lawmakers can use the 
ensuing months to work out their differences on full-year funding.

   It won't be an easy lift as Republicans seek a dramatic increase in defense 
spending while cutting non-defense spending. Trump proposed a 10% cut in 
non-defense programs overall. Meanwhile, he called for boosting defense 
spending by some 44%.

   A potential shutdown before voters go to the polls is a scenario that both 
parties are looking to avoid, as polling indicated that neither party evaded 
blame for last fall's record 43-day shutdown. Democrats sought to extend an 
expiring health insurance tax credit and refused to go along with a short-term 
spending bill that did not include that priority. But Republicans said that was 
a separate policy fight to be held at another time.

   A second spending battle over funding for the Department of Homeland 
Security took 76 days to resolve when Democrats refused to fund U.S. 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol without changes to 
those operations.

   The bill delays a controversial policy on grants

   Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations 
Committee, along with Democratic senators, are seeking to block a proposed rule 
from President Donald Trump's administration related to grants. The rule would 
require a senior political appointee at each agency to review grant proposals 
through criteria that include "ensuring that discretionary awards advance the 
President's policy priorities."

   Collins and Sen Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Appropriations 
Committee, said the rule would not take effect during the course of the stopgap 
spending bill. Collins said she advocated for significant changes to the rule, 
"citing its potential to politicize grants and harm small, rural communities, 
families, and biomedical research."

   Democrats want to kill the administration's effort altogether. Senate 
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said it was a "disgraceful" effort that would 
"further politicize all federal grants."

   "While Republicans rejected killing the proposed rule outright, I'm going to 
keep fighting to put a stop to it once and for all, and I will keep pressing my 
Republican colleagues to do exactly that," Murray said.

   Democrats fear Trump would turn federal grants into a cudgel to punish 
perceived political foes and reward allies, while also undermining Congress's 
constitutional power of the purse. The White House Office of Management and 
Budget says its effort is about improving accountability to ensure taxpayer 
dollars aren't wasted or misused.