Senate Republicans tried to advance a funding package as their last act of the year, but a last-minute block by Senate Democrats sent lawmakers home frustrated as the deadline to fund the government creeps closer.
Lawmakers have spent the last month since the government shutdown building consensus on a five-bill spending package that would go a long way toward preventing another one come Jan. 30.
The package would have funded the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Commerce, Justice, Interior, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, which represent a massive chunk of Congress’ overall funding responsibilities.
But a deal never materialized, and the lights of the Senate chamber went out for the last time of the year as lawmakers beelined from Washington, D.C., back to their home districts. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., remained hopeful that when the Senate returned, Democrats would cross the aisle to finish the job.
"The Democrats are indicating that they want to do them, they just didn't want to do them today," Thune said. "So hopefully, when we get back, we'll test that proposition, and hope that we'll take them to face value, and hopefully we'll get moving, and get moving quickly, because we've got a lot to do."
Before the last gavel rang through the chamber, however, there was still hope that a deal could be reached.
As the clock ticked deeper into the night and the smell of jet fumes grew stronger in the Senate, top Republicans kept working the phones and trying to negotiate a path forward on the package.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Fox News Digital that Republicans had cleared the decks on their end after several weeks of holds on the package from fiscal hawks demanding amendment votes on earmarks, among other thorny issues.
"I’m about to call one of the people," Collins said before ducking into her office.
When she emerged, Collins said that there was only one hold left. And that last remaining blockage appeared to be from Sens. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who were incensed by the Trump administration’s plan to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought called the facility in a post on X "one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country," and vowed a comprehensive review was underway and that any "vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location."
Hickenlooper suggested that he and Bennet would lift their hold only if they received a guaranteed outcome on an amendment vote — a proposition Republicans have time and again this year for several other Democratic issues that they said they couldn’t do.
"We need to find some Republican supporters. All we’re trying to do is just protect the budget that was already there," Hickenlooper said. "So, whatever disagreement there is between the state, the governor of Colorado, and the President of the United States, that shouldn't affect a scientific institution. Science should be free of that kind of politics."
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