Senate progress on a $279 billion package of three fiscal 2024 appropriations bills slowed to a crawl Thursday even after lawmakers overwhelmingly signaled their desire to call up the measure for debate and amendments.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., blocked a unanimous consent request to package the three bills together and set up votes on an initial batch of 10 amendments, including a handful sponsored by Republicans. His concern, shared by others such as Rand Paul, R-Ky., was that the chamber ought to be debating one spending bill at a time.
“I’m pushing for functionality to be returned to this chamber,” Johnson said before lodging his formal objection. “What’s wrong with taking up just one bill? Pass it, move on to the next.”
