More than any document to date, the bill defines the new budget reality that faces Obama. | AP Photos Senate OKs $1.1T spending bill

A landmark $1.1 trillion spending bill cleared Congress Thursday evening after conservative resistance collapsed in the Senate and tea party favorite Ted Cruz dropped his insistence on a vote on funding for President Barack Obama’s health care plan.

On back-to-back 72-26 roll calls, senators voted to cut off debate and then quickly adopted the bill, which keeps the government funded through September.


Seventeen Republicans backed passage, but as with the December budget accord, a majority did not. The divisions show again how much the Senate –even more than the House—has become a partisan battleground. Once again Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) opted to be a “nay” despite the overwhelming support of House Republicans for the measure.

( PHOTOS: Key quotes from Ted Cruz)

The giant package, which Obama has pledged to sign, is very much a product of that same budget agreement last month. But if December set the limits on spending, this bill now spells out where the dollars will go. And as such, it sets a new template for appropriations for the remainder of the president’s second term.

Filling hundreds of pages, it literally touches every corner of government. And more than any single document to date, it defines the new budget reality that faces Obama and his activist agenda.

Obama’s signature health care and Wall Street reforms will endure but with far less money than he had wanted. About $20 billion is restored for domestic programs cut under sequestration last spring. But measured in real dollars adjusted for inflation, Obama is still left with less than Congress approved six years ago for his Republican predecessor— President George W. Bush.

Treasury lost in its bid to secure extra dollars to meet U.S. pledges to the International Monetary Fund and expedite reforms allowing emerging economies like Brazil and India to play a larger role in the organization. But more than $3 billion is provided to help deal with the growing refugee crisis in Syria and at home, funding for Head Start is greatly increased in line with Obama’s goal of boosting pre-kindergarten education.

( QUIZ: Do you know Ted Cruz?)

The measure is the product of more than six weeks of arduous negotiations between the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. But the final papers were not filed until Monday night, after which the process moved with remarkable speed.

On both sides there was a level of false piety. Proponents argued that they were restoring “regular order” to the appropriations process, but no amendments were allowed in either the House or the Senate. Opponents alleged the Appropriations leadership had reopened the door to excess “pork-barrel” spending but the bill meets the targets set in December and has nothing like the number of earmarks that were so common just a few years ago.

“This body faces a choice, a choice between pragmatism and irresponsibility,” Cruz said in proposing his amendments challenging the president’s health care program. But after the shutdown fight over the same issue, it seemed more of a déjà vu moment for many of his colleagues who privately blame the Texas Republican for pushing them into that crisis.

Coming out of a party luncheon, Cruz’s colleagues said he was insistent on demanding a vote on this amendment, even if it meant delaying passage. But ultimately the Texan changed his tone. Instead he used a speech on the floor to highlight his complaints about the president’s program and then politely left after Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) objected to his requests.

Sensitive to the perception of him backing down, Cruz’s office said later that “he remains committed to keeping the conversation about Obamacare front and center as the law continues to harm more and more Americans by raising their premiums, canceling their plans and keeping them from their doctors.”

But in truth his gambit seemed aimed at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as much as the Affordable Care Act.

Indeed, the same spending bill passed the House on a 359-67 vote Wednesday after just an hour of debate governed by a Republican-backed rule that allowed no amendments. And Reid set out to achieve the same result by using his position to block amendments.

Soon after the House bill arrived, he moved Wednesday night to fill the two legislative “trees” which can be used to attach amendments or motions to refer a bill back to committee.

The end result was not unlike what the House Rules Committee, controlled by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), achieved with its closed rule on the same spending bill. But under Senate procedure, Reid had to take the full burden on himself as leader.

Conservatives like Cruz have chafed under the majority leader’s tight grip on floor proceedings, and one of the newer strategies is to challenge the parliamentarian and rulings by the chair.

Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) went down this path earlier this week. And until he reversed course, this appeared to be where Cruz was heading—forcing a process that would have spilled into Saturday.