周三，参议院朝着批准其第一项拨款法案迈出了一步，以90比8的投票结果同意推进军事建设和退伍军人事务支出。
但议员们要避免政府关门还有很长的路要走，在9月30日的最后期限之前，有12项拨款法案要通过。
众议院已经通过了两项拨款法案，在特朗普政府处理杰弗里·爱泼斯坦文件的混乱中，众议院议长迈克·约翰逊提前结束了立法会议。
参议院将于下周开始8月休会，尽管参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩(John Thune)仍保留取消为期一周的休会的可能性，因为唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统要求推进他的提名人选。
与共和党在本届国会所做的许多事情不同，在参议院通过12项拨款法案中的任何一项都需要60票才能通过。
图恩在福克斯新闻频道的“周日早间期货”节目中表示，“我们必须找到一种方法”来开始实施这些措施。
“我们需要完成拨款。这将需要民主党的一些合作，希望他们愿意确保政府得到资助，”图恩告诉主持人玛利亚·巴蒂罗姆。
民主党寻求资金策略
民主党人周二举行闭门会议，试图制定出一个有凝聚力的策略，在2010年前接近政府拨款
关闭截止日期。
参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默和众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯也会见了他们的民主党拨款人。
在随后举行的简短联合新闻发布会上，舒默和杰弗里斯表示，民主党人致力于“两党，两院制”的拨款程序，但指责共和党人为避免关闭政府提供了一条清晰的道路。
“一如既往，我们准备本着诚意参与这些讨论，但众议院共和党人不在那里。事实上，众议院共和党人正带领我们走向一个可能伤害美国人民的政府关门。杰弗里斯说:“我们仍然准备好、愿意并能够拥有那种将为美国人民带来好结果的拨款程序，但这一程序本质上必须是两党和两院制的。”。
舒默说，参议院民主党人支持关于军事建设和退伍军人事务部资金的第一项拨款法案，因为这将有助于退伍军人和撤销政府效率部的一些削减——但其他问题不会那么简单。
民主党人在考虑如何处理政府资金时，正在权衡一些因素，特别是大多数人表示，在共和党人从联邦预算中拨出90亿美元的资金后，他们感到受到了蔑视。
共和党人能够在没有任何民主党支持的情况下，通过包括削减对外援助和公共广播在内的救援方案。民主党人表示，这相当于背叛了之前的协议，该协议让他们对未来的协议感到不情愿。
康涅狄格州民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔(Richard Blumenthal)周一表示，“就我个人而言，当我知道共和党人只会在严格的党派基础上横行霸道并推翻他们时，我真的很难投票支持拨款。”“我的同事们的党派背叛模式让我犹豫了很久，所以我真的很纠结。”
佛蒙特州民主党参议员彼得·韦尔奇也表达了同样的观点。
韦尔奇说:“有一个信任问题，我们必须立法，当你达成协议时，然后在解雇问题上发生变化，你有60票，突然变成50票。”"我们认为是坚固的、一成不变的东西突然融化了，这是一个问题."
图恩周二还呼吁在拨款过程中采取两党合作的方式，但将与共和党合作的责任推给了民主党人。
图恩在参议院共和党领导人的新闻发布会上说:“民主党人已经表示，因为他们对上周的废除法案感到非常不安——顺便说一下，该法案削减了1%的联邦支出——他们可以以此为借口关闭拨款程序，从而关闭政府。”。“我们认为这将是一个巨大的错误，希望他们会更好地考虑这个问题，并与我们合作。”
然而，白宫已经提出政府拨款过程应该“减少两党合作”。
“这不会让我晚上睡不着觉，我认为这将带来更好的结果，因为拨款过程有点党派色彩。我认为这不一定会导致政府关门，”白宫行政管理和预算办公室主任鲁斯·沃特上周告诉记者。
“谁在两党拨款程序的议程上竞选并获胜?实际上没有人。没有民主党，没有共和党，”他补充道。“这个国家没有一个选民去投票站说，‘我投票支持两党拨款程序。’"
参议院拨款委员会副主席、来自华盛顿的民主党参议员帕蒂·默里(Patty Murray)在周三投票前在参议院表示，她认为他的程序应该以历史上两党合作的方式向前推进，尽管共和党人最近采取了一些措施，通过一个取消拨款的方案来争取政府资金。
“要明确的是，如果共和党人继续削减两党协议，增加更多的豁免，那就不是合作，”默里说。她补充说，“因此，对于任何考虑党派路线的人来说，你不能在没有与民主党人交谈的情况下编写法案，然后在民主党人不支持时表现出惊讶。你想要我们的选票。你和我们一起工作，我们今天正在考虑的这项法案表明这是可能的。”
Both parties promise bipartisanship to pass spending bills before shutdown deadline
The Senate on Wednesday took a step toward approving its first appropriation bill, agreeing to advance military construction and Veterans Affairs spending in a 90-8 vote.
But lawmakers have a long way to go to avoid a government shutdown, with 12 appropriations bills to get through before the Sept. 30 deadline.
The House, which has passed two appropriations bills, saw its legislative session ended early by Speaker Mike Johnson amid turmoil over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The Senate is set to begin its August recess next week, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune has kept open the possibility of canceling the weekslong break at President Donald Trump's request to advance his nominees.
And unlike many of the things that Republicans have done this Congress, passing any of the 12 appropriations bills in the Senate will require 60 votes to pass.
Thune, during an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," said "we've got to find a way" to start moving the measures.
"We are going to need to get appropriations done. That will require some cooperation from Democrats and hopefully they will be willing to make sure that the government is funded," Thune told host Maria Bartiromo.
Democrats seek to strategize on funding
Democrats met behind closed doors on Tuesday to try to hash out a cohesive strategy for approaching government funding ahead of the s
hutdown deadline.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also met with their Democratic appropriators.
At a brief joint press conference afterward, Schumer and Jeffries said Democrats were committed to a "bipartisan, bicameral" appropriations process but blamed Republicans for making a clear path forward to averting a shutdown difficult.
"As has always been the case we are prepared to engage in those discussions in good faith, but House Republicans are not there. House Republicans are in fact marching us toward a possible government shutdown that will hurt the American people. We remain ready, willing and able to have the type of appropriations process that will yield a good result for the American people, but that process must be bipartisan and bicameral in nature," Jeffries said.
Schumer said Senate Democrats supported the first appropriations bill on military construction and VA funding because it will help veterans and undo some cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency -- but that other issues wouldn't be as simple.
Democrats are weighing a number of considerations as they think about how to deal with government funding, especially with most saying they feel scorned after Republicans struck $9 billion in previously-approved funds from the federal budget.
Republicans were able to pass the rescissions package, which included cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting, without any Democratic support. Democrats say it amounts to a betrayal of a previous agreement that's left them reluctant about future deals.
"Speaking for myself, I am really hard put to vote for appropriations when I know Republicans are just going to ride roughshod and reverse them down the line on a strictly partisan basis," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said on Monday. "The pattern of partisan betrayal on the part of my colleagues gives me a lot of pause so I am really torn about it."
Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, echoed those sentiments.
"There's a trust issue that we have to have to legislate where you reach an agreement and then there's a switch-a-roo on rescissions and you have 60 votes and it suddenly goes to 50," Welch said. "What we thought was solid and set in stone suddenly melts away, that is a problem."
Thune on Tuesday also called for a bipartisan path forward on the appropriations process, but put the onus on Democrats to work with Republicans.
"The Democrats have indicated, because they're so upset over the rescissions bill last week -- which, by the way, cut one-tenth of 1 percent of all federal spending -- that somehow they can use that as an excuse to shut down the appropriations process and therefore shut down the government," Thune said at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership. "We think that would be a big mistake, and hopefully they will think better of it and work with us."
The White House, though, has made the case the government funding process should be "less bipartisan."
"It's not going to keep me up at night, and I think it will lead to better results, by having the appropriations process be a little bit partisan. And I don't think it's necessarily leading to a shutdown," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told reporters last week.
"Who ran and won on the on an agenda of a bipartisan appropriations process? Literally no one. No Democrat, no Republican," he added. "There is no voter in the country that's went to the polls and said, 'I'm voting for a bipartisan appropriations process.'"
Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said on the Senate floor before Wednesday’s vote that she thought his process should move forward in its historically bipartisan fashion despite Republicans’ recent moves to work on government funding through a rescissions package.
"To be clear, if Republicans continue cutting bipartisan deals with more rescissions, that's not cooperation," Murray said. She added, "So for anyone considering the partisan route, you cannot write a bill without talking to Democrats and then act surprised when Democrats don't support it. You want our votes. You work with us, and this bill today that we're considering shows that is possible."
