Business

Senate moves to get out of town

by Jordain Carney - 09/28/16 1:05 PM ET

The Senate is hoping to hold a final vote Wednesday afternoon on a stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown, then leave Washington to return to the campaign trail.

{mosads}Senate leaders in both parties have voiced support for a House deal meant to ease the way for a Senate vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the Senate would likely start procedural votes Wednesday afternoon on a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded through Dec. 9.

“With a little cooperation, we should be able to get that over to the House this afternoon,” he said from the Senate floor.

The move comes after a late-night deal in the House to allow a vote on an amendment adding emergency funding for communities with lead-contaminated drinking water like Flint, Mich., to a water infrastructure bill. Democrats had been holding up the government funding bill over Flint aid.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) threw his support behind the Flint deal Wednesday morning, noting that he had talked with Michigan lawmakers and McConnell.

“I’ve had conversations with people, I’ve been given the assurance by the Republican leadership that something will happen in the lame-duck,” he added. “I’m comfortable in talking to [Pelosi] that the House feels comfortable with where they are on Flint.”

Though both Democrats and McConnell floated dropping emergency flood money in an effort to get a deal, the aid will stay in the Senate’s bill.

The Senate’s bill includes money for fighting the Zika virus, as well as funding to combat an opioid and prescription drug abuse crisis.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) quickly claimed victory, noting that at the start of the week, the House wasn’t going to back adding Flint aid to the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) until a lame duck conference committee.

“We now have a commitment. There is going to be something in the House WRDA bill and a commitment that the final bill will include the work that we did in the Senate,” she said.

The legislative breakthrough comes after Senate Democrats, joined by roughly a dozen Republicans, to block the Senate’s CR over the Flint fight.

The Senate is expected to leave town until after the election once it passes the funding bill.

Tags Debbie Stabenow Harry Reid Mitch McConnell