Democrats note $1B ‘Trump-class’ battleship request left out
The short-term spending bill unveiled by key senators on Sunday would set the next federal funding deadline for Dec. 11, keeping agencies funded past the midterm elections and into early December.
The Senate is likely to vote on the measure before leaving Washington at week’s end for its traditional August recess, a period many lawmakers want to spend shoring up their reelection prospects.
If approved, the measure would generally fund the federal government at current levels through Dec. 11, pushing the next funding deadline to early December — after the midterm elections — in an effort to avoid a government shutdown in the middle of campaign season.
The House has passed a similar measure, but it did not include various exceptions sought by the White House. Senators have spent recent days negotiating which of those exceptions to include in the Senate version.
One exception that did not make the cut, Democrats noted, was the administration’s request to include $1 billion to build “Trump-class” battleships.