WASHINGTON -- Congress cleared a $1.1 trillion spending bill for President Barack Obama's signature late Saturday after a day of Senate activity capped by a failed, largely symbolic Republican challenge to the administration's new immigration policy.
The vote was 56-40 in favor of the spending measure, which funds nearly the entire government through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. It also charts a new course for selected shaky pension plans covering more than 1 million retirees, including the possibility of benefit cuts.
The Senate passed the bill on a day Democrats launched a drive to confirm two dozen of Obama's stalled nominees to the federal bench and administration posts, before their control of the Senate expires at year's end.
Several Republicans blamed Tea Party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for giving Democrats an opportunity to consider the approval of presidential appointees, including some that were long-stalled.
It was Cruz who pushed the Senate to vote on the administration's policy of suspending the threat of deportation for an estimated 4 million aliens living in the country illegally. He lost his attempt Saturday night, 74-22, although Republican leaders have vowed to raise the issue again after their party takes control of the Senate in January.
"If you believe President Obama's amnesty is unconstitutional, vote yes. If you believe President Obama's amnesty is consistent with the Constitution, vote no," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rebutted instantly, saying Cruz was "wrong, wrong, wrong on several counts," and even Republicans who oppose Obama's policy abandoned the Texan.
The spending bill, which cleared the House on Thursday, was the main item left on Congress' year-end agenda and exposed fissures within both political parties in both houses.
It faced opposition from Democratic liberals upset about the repeal of a banking regulation and Republican conservatives unhappy that it failed to challenge Obama's immigration policy.
While the legislation assures funding for nearly the entire government until next fall, it made an exception of the Department of Homeland Security. Money for that agency will run out on Feb. 27, when Republicans intend to try to force the president to roll back his immigration policy.
The legislation locks in spending levels negotiated in recent years between Republicans and Democrats, and includes a number of provisions that reflect the priorities of one party or the other, from the environment to abortion to the legalization of marijuana in the District of Columbia.
One provision, which drew vehement objections from Democrats, repeals a regulation imposed on banks in the wake of the near economic collapse of 2008. Critics called it a bailout for large financial institutions, but more than 70 House Democrats voted for it previously, and Obama made clear that he didn't view it as a deal-killer.
The pension provision was a bipartisan agreement that opens the door for the first time to benefit cuts for current retirees covered by multi-employer funds in shaky financial condition.
Supporters said it would protect retirement income to the maximum extent possible without also endangering the solvency of the government fund that guarantees multi-employer plans. Critics said it posed a threat to the pension recipients and that it could also become a precedent for other pensioners.
Immigration was at the heart of Saturday's events in the Senate.
Cruz seized on the issue late Friday night when he challenged the bill. That led swiftly to the unraveling of an informal bipartisan agreement, which if it had stood would have given the Senate the weekend off.
But the derailed agreement led Reid, D-Nev., to call an all-day Senate session Saturday devoted almost exclusively to beginning time-consuming work on confirmation for 13 judicial appointees and 11 nominees to administration posts.
Some Republicans tried to slow Saturday's nomination proceedings, and several voiced unhappiness with Cruz. One likened Cruz's actions to his role in precipitating a 16-day partial government shutdown more than a year ago.
"I've seen this movie before, and I wouldn't pay money to see it again," Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said between seemingly endless roll call votes.
On the challenges to the spending bill, Cruz blamed Reid, saying Reid's "last act as majority leader is to, once again, act as an enabler" for the president by blocking a vote on Obama's immigration policy that envisions work visas for an estimated 5 million illegal aliens living in the country.
Cruz said Reid was "going to an embarrassing length to tie up the floor to obstruct debate and a vote on this issue because he knows amnesty is unpopular with the American people, and he doesn't want the Democrats on the record as supporting it."
Saturday's work on nominee confirmations included Carolyn Colvin to head the Social Security Administration, Vivek Murthy to become surgeon general, Sarah Saldana as head of Customs and Immigration Enforcement, and Antony Blinken to the No. 2 position at the State Department.
It was unclear Saturday whether the nomination of Arkansan Colette Honorable to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was on that list. Consideration of her nomination was seen as more likely on Monday.
Democrats did not provide a complete list of nominees, saying it might change. More than a dozen judicial nominations remained on the Senate's calendar, and dozens of appointees for administration positions -- nominees who would be more difficult to push through when Republicans take control of the Senate.
With tempers already fraying just hours into the marathon session, Cruz's colleagues were quick to lash out at him.
"It will have the end result of causing nominees whom I think are not well-qualified to be confirmed, so I don't understand the approach that he is taking, and I think it's very unfortunate and counterproductive," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "This reminds me very much of the shutdown last year, where the strategy made absolutely no sense and was counterproductive."
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., added: "I fail to see what conservative ends were achieved." He also said he was worried about what the events mean for next year, when Republicans are in charge.
"When you force a weekend session like this, we ought to be accomplishing something, and I just don't see what that is," he said. "I'm not opposed to lonely tactics -- I did a lot -- but if you're achieving something, that's the test. I don't see what we're achieving here."
Only the Democrats seemed to be enjoying themselves Saturday. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., said it was "inconvenient to be here voting around the clock," but he was "kind of pleased at how it's working out."
"We will get these confirmations done, and we may not have gotten them done otherwise," he said.
Saturday's events overshadowed developments in the House last week, when Democratic divisions had imperiled the budget deal that ultimately passed in that chamber Thursday night.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California opposed the bill and publicly chastised Obama for giving it his support.
Information for this article was contributed by David Espo, Donna Cassata and Darlene Superville of The Associated Press; and by Ashley Parker and Robert Pear of The New York Times.
A Section on 12/14/2014