Senate Republican leaders are aiming to advance a second funding package Thursday, according to two GOP senators who were granted anonymity to discuss scheduling details from a closed-door lunch Tuesday.
GOP senators discussed during the lunch advancing a “minibus” package that would tie up the Labor-HHS-Education, Defense, Transportation-HUD, Interior-EPA and Commerce-Justice-Science bills, which have been in limbo for weeks.
While Republican leaders have been working feverishly in recent days to clear the final roadblocks on their side of the aisle, the two GOP senators said one colleague still has a hold on the package. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune was pressed during the meeting to put the bill on the floor Thursday, they said.
Thune, in a brief interview after the lunch said, said he, too, wanted to take up the package Thursday but said the plan is “aspirational.”
