Veterans bill breaks Senate logjam on spending bills

[nitpicker]

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/259283-senate-dems-allow-va-spending-bill-to-advance

Veterans bill breaks Senate logjam on spending bills

By Jordain Carney - 11/05/15 02:22 PM EST


Senate Democrats allowed a Veterans Affairs (VA) spending bill to move forward Thursday, effectively breaking a months-long logjam on funding legislation. Senators voted 93-0 on advancing the fiscal year 2016 funding bill for veterans' benefits and military construction. Sixty votes were needed to move forward with the proposal.
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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are close to a tentative plan for moving forward on an omnibus spending bill, and suggested the VA measure could be used as the vehicle for it. "I'm hopeful the [military construction]-VA appropriations bill will help us move toward a bipartisan, omnibus funding bill both parties can accept," he told reporters. "In my conversations this morning with Senator McConnell, I think that's where we're headed."
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McConnell teed up the second procedural vote on the VA legislation Thursday after Democrats blocked it last month as part of an effort to reach a long-term budget deal. He urged senators to let the VA legislation move forward, promising an open amendment process. "The chairman of that committee, Senator Kirk, is working with the ranking member to move that bill across the floor next week," McConnell said. "If senators cooperate in moving things along and scheduling votes on amendments to the bill, we can vote on passage Tuesday night." He added that a Tuesday vote would mean "that senators can commemorate Veterans Day back home. … Obviously this is going to require some cooperation from all members."

Democrats also suggested they were willing to let the legislation move forward because it includes both defense and non-defense spending. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who supported moving forward with the legislation, said Democrats were taking "a leap of faith" by letting the legislation proceed.
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