Senate Republicans want to fuse together three spending bills while confirming as many of President Donald Trump’s nominees as possible — a process that’s testing the chamber’s boundaries of “unanimous consent.”
Republicans want a deal with Democrats on confirming nominees quickly, and though Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t “ruled anything out” in terms of workload ahead of the summer break, recess appointments are probably not in the cards. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins met with Thune on Monday about tacking two more spending bills onto the Veterans Affairs spending bill the Senate is considering, though that too requires everyone’s agreement to do quickly — which is always tricky.
Collins and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., are working to clear out objections to combining the bills. Collins also talked to House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., over the weekend — a sign of bicameral coordination.
