The U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to move forward on a package of House-passed spending bills, as lawmakers appeared to dig in for a forthcoming battle over President Trump’s desired U.S.-Mexico border wall ahead of an end-of-month funding deadline.
The Senate voted 51-44 to move forward on the legislation — short of the 60 votes needed to clear a filibuster. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell voted “no” for procedural reasons.
The procedural vote had been expected to fail. Had it succeeded, it would have allowed Senate Republicans to substitute their own version of the legislation and push the process closer to final negotiations with their counterparts in the Democrat-led House.
The four-bill package funds programs in defense, labor, health, education, energy, water and foreign operations.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby had said Senate Republicans were planning to substitute their own four bills totaling close to $1 trillion — which would be the lion’s share of the federal government’s discretionary budget for fiscal 2020.
“Our national security is undermined by the failure of Congress to pass the military’s budget on time,” said Mr. Shelby, Alabama Republican. “The fiscal year ends soon, and this is no time for partisan politics.”
But Democrats have warned Mr. Shelby and Mr. McConnell that they will not support spending legislation that diverts funds from other programs to go toward a wall on the southern border.
“We’re simply trying to stop Republicans from stealing the money from our military and putting it into the wall, which he said Mexico would pay for,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer.
A dispute over border wall funding helped trigger the 35-day shutdown that started in December and stretched into January.
On the House side of the Capitol, Democrats were still working through some issues on a separate stopgap funding bill that will likely sidestep the thorny wall battle and temporarily keep the government running past Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.
One sticking point in the House legislation was over money intended to go toward farmers who have been affected by Mr. Trump’s trade and tariff battles.
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