Senate Advances $3.6 Billion Supplemental Spending Bill

The Senate has voted 63-33 to advance consideration of an emergency supplemental spending bill.

Democratic Senators Mary Landrieu (LA) and Kay Hagan (NC) voted against the measure. Both are up for reelection in the fall. Eleven Republicans voted for the bill (Ayotte, Chambliss, Collins, Corker, Cornyn, Grassley, Hatch, Heller, Isakson, Murkowski and Rubio). And four senators (Cochran, McCain, Roberts and Schatz) did not vote.

There are now 30 hours of post-cloture debate on the bill.

Following today's vote, Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) opened debate on the bill, highlighting its inclusion of $225 million in appropriations for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system and $615 million to help fight wildfires in the Western U.S. The crux of the bill includes $2.7 billion to address the growing number of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. That's a billion shy of the president's request. Senator Blunt said the bill goes in the wrong direction without changes to a 2008 trafficking law and will not pass in the House.

Senator Mikulski is also hoping senators will pass her fiscal 2015 Veterans Affairs-Military Construction spending bill later this week by unanimous consent, but her attempt to do so on Tuesday was thwarted by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol, legislators plan to take up a smaller supplemental spending bill that was introduced by Mikulski's House counterpart, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) to address southern border issues.