WASHINGTON — Senate leaders failed their first big test this week in their push to prove they can pass 12 spending bills and prevent the annual fiscal crisis that threatens to shut down the government at the end of the year.
After starting off strong last week with bipartisan consensus to pass a $37.5 billion energy and water bill, the process blew up when Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., proposed an amendment Wednesday that Democrats charged was a "poison pill" that would undermine the Iran nuclear deal.
On Thursday, Democrats blocked the bill from advancing because of the amendment, leaving senators headed home for a weeklong recess without anything to show for two weeks of debate. The vote was 52-43 to advance the bill, falling short of the 60 votes needed.
The failure to advance the bill, which would pay for popular flood control projects, port improvements and nuclear safety programs, underscores just how difficult it will be for senators to pass the other 11 measures, many of which are much more controversial.
The vote was a blow to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who had optimistically vowed to try to pass all 12 spending bills for 2017 by Oct. 1. Congress has not met that deadline since 1994. When Congress fails to pass the bills by the beginning of a new fiscal year, lawmakers are forced to scramble to put together one huge hodgepodge of a funding bill at the last minute to keep the government running
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/28/senates-push-pass-spending-bills-stalls-over-partisan-blowup/83651668/
