Senate Reaches Deal on Bill to Fund Government Through End of Fiscal Year

Senate Democrats and Republicans have reached a deal on proceeding this afternoon with a bill to fund government through Sept. 30, the remainder of the fiscal year.

Final passage could come as early as 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide.

The measure would then be sent over to the House, which has already passed its version of the $1.043 trillion continuing resolution, and House members have said they see nothing objectionable to what the Senate has added. The continuing resolution is needed to keep government agencies running beyond the March 27 expiration of a current stop-gap bill.

The announcement of a deal from Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., comes after an impasse this week between the parties over the number of amendments that would be permitted.

The agreement is to hold a series of votes on up to 10 amendments, prior to the vote on passage.

Both the House and Senate versions of the measure are subject to the sequester cuts, which would bring its spending level down to roughly $984 billion.

Senate Democrats plan to proceed after the vote on the CR Wednesday with debate on their proposed budget for FY14.