funding for large portions of the federal government technically expired at 12:01 a.m. Saturday but the Senate was working its way through a series of amendments to a $1.2 trillion spending bill that would fund agencies for the next 6 months which means the laps in funding could end well Before Sunrise let alone before federal workers are due to come in Monday the Bill's passage in the upper chamber was not in doubt the measure enjoys broad bipartisan support but could not surmount cumbersome procedural steps ahead of the deadline the house passed the spending Bill earlier Friday not enough time for the Senate to act without unanimous agreement of its members a small band of Republicans refused to give that consent until late Friday insisting on votes on amendments that lawmakers knew they had to defeat because any changes to the bill would require approval from the house which began a long recess earlier Friday even if funding Interruption lasts into Saturday or Sunday the effects would probably be muted many federal workers at unfunded agencies would be off for the weekend anyway I'm opposed to shutdowns but of the kinds of shutdowns that we could have one that is only happening on the weekend as about the best version it Senator Jerry Moran Aran told the Washington Post where this hurts as in defense on Friday morning the the house narrowly passed the legislation the product of a deal among President Biden house Speaker Mike Johnson Arla and Senate Majority Leader Charles E Schumer DN why but negotiators took so long working out the final details of the package and the house took so long putting it to a vote after the deal was cinched that the senate had scant time by its slow standards to pass the legislation before midnight Republic an sends Ted Bud NC Mike Lee Utah Ted Cruz Tex and ran Paul KY demanded Amendment votes on issues including immigration Iran sanctions foreign aid and cutting spending before they would agree to yield time and allow a vote to proceed that sparked not just policy disputes in the upper chamber but also personal ones Senator Susan Collins Maine the top Republic appropriator had to return to her home state Saturday morning for her mother's funeral Senator leadership attempted to eliminate Amendment proposals or hasten the way they were processed as a courtesy to her so she could vote before leaving Washington the Senate can act fast when it has unanimous consent so even just the 12 hours the house left the upper chamber to deal with the bill could have been enough if all 100 members had agreed they did not until about 15 minutes before the deadline this is way past stupid said Senator Chris Coons Dell who is close with Collins and a key interlocutor with Schumer this is into mean the legislation would fund about three quarters of the federal government for the next 6 months while also raising military pay eliminating us