Senate Making Unusual Progress in Passing Spending Bills

In what is a notable achievement in recent times, the Senate has passed its first spending bill of the year and others are making their way efficiently through the pipeline, PowerPost reports.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has championed a "back to work" ethos since he assumed his position last year after the Republicans gained control of the Senate, insists that the body efficiently perform its basic job of passing funding legislation.

He pointed to another source of optimism when last week the Senate ended a month-long standoff and reached a bipartisan agreement on a funding bill to fight the Zika virus. The bill is expected to come to a vote this week, The Washington Post reports.

Earlier this month Politico reported that despite McConnell's desire to push through legislation, the Senate was actually on pace in 2016 to be in session the fewest numbers of days since 1956.

Over in the House GOP infighting has thwarted similar success. As a result, Congress is likely to again be forced to pass a stop-gap spending measure to keep the government running past September 30 and to resort to the large year-end spending bills seen in the past years. 

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