WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday delivered a vote of confidence to a bipartisan spending bill that’s needed to head off a government shutdown at midnight Wednesday.
The 77-19 vote powers the measure past a filibuster by some of the chamber’s most ardent conservatives, who were angered that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., stripped a provision that would cancel federal funding of Planned Parenthood in exchange for keeping the government open.
McConnell is under fire from Tea Partyers who demand that he fight harder against Planned Parenthood — even at the risk of a partial government shutdown — but McConnell is more concerned with protecting his 2016 re-election class from political damage.
The Senate is expected to approve the bill Tuesday and send it to the House, which has endorsed the measure.
