WASHINGTON — Amid the often-divisive partisan politics of Washington, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last week touted an anomaly: the Senate Appropriations Committee had passed a dozen bills to fund the government with broad bipartisan support.
The 29-member panel passed seven of the 12 appropriations bills unanimously and the rest with four or fewer no votes, putting the Senate on a rare path of debating appropriations under regular order instead of bundling everything into a massive omnibus bill.
Schumer said he will bring three of the spending bills to the floor for debate and amendments as soon as Monday, a key step in the expected struggle between the Senate and House over next year’s spending.
Schumer, a New Yorker who often has acted a partisan Democrat during his more than four decades in Congress, highlighted that accomplishment to tout his pragmatic embrace of bipartisanship, at least for keeping the government open and funded through 2024.
“As we all know, government funding is set to expire on September 30th. By the end of this month, the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, all must get on the same page about keeping the government open and avoiding a pointless shutdown,” he said last week.
“To accomplish that,” Schumer added, “the answer is very simple: all sides must work together, in good faith, without engaging in extremist or all-or-nothing tactics.”
Yet he also took aim at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus that is using its clout to try to cut back federal spending, root out liberal policies and defend former President Donald Trump.
Schumer contrasted Senate Republican cooperation with House Republicans who have passed appropriations bills without a single Democratic vote and the Freedom Caucus that he said is bent on forcing a shutdown if it does not get its priories passed.
“The idea is for both parties to work together,” Schumer said,…
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