Senate Rejects Defense Bills Again, Foreshadowing CR

Defense News:  WASHINGTON — US Senate Democrats again voted down the 2017 Pentagon and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending bills Tuesday, teeing up a stopgap funding resolution to avert a government shutdown.

Each bill needed 60 'yea' votes to proceed. For Pentagon appropriations, the near-party-line vote was 55-43, with two Democrats voting yea: Sens. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and Joe Donnelly, of Indiana. For Military-Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations, the vote was 52-46, with two Republicans voting nay: Sens. Mike Lee, of Utah, and James Lankford, of Oklahoma.

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