Senate passes $1.7 trillion government funding bill that overhauls U.S. election law - NBC News

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Thursday to walk a $1.7 trillion government backing bill, sending it to the House to debar a vacation shutdown.

The ballot was 68-29 connected sweeping authorities that volition support the authorities funded done adjacent autumn and overhaul predetermination laws successful an effort to forestall different Jan. 6. It came aft votes connected a potpourri of amendments, including landmark workplace protections for large and breastfeeding employees.

The measure besides includes astir $45 cardinal successful assistance to Ukraine, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a associated league of Congress that U.S. enactment is “crucial” successful helping them fend disconnected Russian aggression. The bundle includes $9 cardinal for weapons and much than $15 cardinal successful economical and humanitarian aid.

“A batch of hard work, a batch of compromise, but we funded the authorities with an assertive concern successful American families, American workers, American nationalist defense,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters moments aft the authorities passed. “It’s 1 of the astir important appropriations packages we’ve done successful a truly agelong time.”

The measure present heads to the House, which has 1 much time to walk it earlier a authorities shutdown connected Friday astatine midnight. After it passes the House, the authorities goes to President Joe Biden, who has indicated helium volition motion it into law. Hours aft Senate passage, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the enclosure would purpose to walk the spending measure connected Friday.

The authorities has divided the Republican Party, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky endorsing it and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California pushing to torpedo it arsenic helium courts right-wing votes to go speaker.

"This is an awesome result for the Republican negotiators," McConnell said, praising the bill's defence spending increases comparative to home nondefense backing arsenic a triumph for the GOP.

The measure overcame a last-minute snag precocious Wednesday implicit a GOP-demanded amendment to support the Trump-era Title 42 borderline argumentation successful place. Democrats agreed to clasp a ballot connected their amendment, alongside a Democratic alternate amendment. Both failed, and the delicate conjugation for the measure stayed intact. But different amendments were approved.

After a years-long fight, senators approved the inclusion of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act arsenic portion of the omnibus, offering protections from favoritism for large workers. The last-ditch effort was led by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Richard Burr, R-N.C., Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Bob Casey, D-Pa.

“For acold excessively long, excessively galore workers excited astir welcoming a caller babe had to interest astir losing their jobs — each due to the fact that their employers could contradict them basic, low-cost accommodations similar a bath interruption oregon a stool to beryllium on,” Murray said successful a statement, calling the measurement “a large and important measurement forward.”

Another measure expanding accommodations for pumping successful the workplace besides passed arsenic portion of the tranche of amendments, cementing different triumph for large women and caller moms. That measurement was offered by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

In a statement, Murkowski called the amendment's transition “good advancement toward ensuring nary parent ever has to take betwixt a occupation and nursing her child.”

The omnibus measure moved guardant successful the Senate connected Tuesday successful a 75-20 vote, overcoming staunch absorption from blimpish Republicans to triumph the 60 votes indispensable to guarantee passage. Before the last ballot Wednesday, the enclosure defeated a bid of amendments that GOP members had demanded successful speech for dropping their threats of dragging retired the measure for days.

One of those opponents, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, pushed backmost connected McConnell's view. “I don’t recognize however that’s a large triumph for Republicans,” helium said. “I bash deliberation this is harmful to Republicans. We person a Republican person successful the House and a Republican person successful the Senate taking diametrically opposed positions. And I’m with McCarthy connected this one.”

In the House, GOP leaders are pressuring members to ballot against the bill, which volition person to trust connected mostly Democratic votes to pass.

The bureau of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana told GOP lawmakers the measure was "designed to sideline the incoming Republican House Majority by extending galore programs for aggregate years" and criticized its "large backing increases" for Democratic priorities.

The authorities besides includes a rewrite of an 1887 national predetermination law to adjacent loopholes that then-President Donald Trump and his squad sought to exploit connected Jan. 6, 2021, aimed astatine making it harder for statesmanlike candidates to bargain aboriginal elections. It besides grants other funds to the Justice Department for Jan. 6 prosecutions.

Schumer said the predetermination measures successful the measure would “preserve our ideology for generations to come.”

Trump said it was "probably better" to cull the predetermination changes.

"I don’t attraction whether they alteration The Electoral Count Act oregon not, astir apt amended to permission it the mode it is truthful that it tin beryllium adjusted successful lawsuit of Fraud," helium wrote connected his societal media platform, arguing that the tendency successful Congress to clarify the instrumentality validates his content that the vice president had the powerfulness to overturn the 2020 result.

Proponents of the changes accidental the 1887 instrumentality is poorly written but was ne'er intended to springiness the vice president specified powerfulness — and that this caller authorities would marque that abundantly clear.

“It’s going to halt the benignant of worldly we saw connected Jan. 6, wherever a sitting president tried to instrumentality the predetermination and go dictator of this country,” Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, a mean Democrat, said Wednesday connected MSNBC’s "Morning Joe." “It’s an important portion of authorities that was worked connected successful a bipartisan way.”