Senate averts shutdown, again

The Senate on Saturday passed a four-day government-funding bill, averting a shutdown that would have started at midnight. 

The upper chamber approved the short-term measure by voice vote at the end of a dramatic week. On Thursday, it passed a two-day extension with plans to pass a $1.1 trillion “cromnibus.”

{mosads}But objections on both sides of the aisle halted progress and forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to file cloture on the motion to concur with the House-passed measure. That sets up a procedural vote on Sunday at 1 a.m., but the government was set to shutdown Saturday night, which is why the four-day extension was needed.

Final passage is scheduled for 7 a.m. on Monday, but the vote could come sooner if Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) lift their objections.

The GOP senators don’t support the bill because they say it doesn’t go far enough to stop President Obama’s executive order on immigration, although it only funds the Department of Homeland Security through February, setting up another fight early next year.

Democrats, meanwhile, have blasted riders attached to the plan that would repeal parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, increase campaign contribution limits and stop the District of Columbia from legalizing marijuana.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has spearheaded the Democrats’ opposition because of the Dodd-Frank reforms, while Cruz and Lee have raised complaints on the immigration issue.