Article snippet: The Senate approved a seven-week funding bill on Wednesday, preventing a partial government shutdown that was expected to begin on Saturday. Senators passed the legislation by voice vote, which represented the final item on the Senate's to-do list as they wrap up their work for the year this week It still needs to pass the House, which returned to Washington on Wednesday night, and be signed by MORE. Republican senators say that while they believe Trump is unhappy with Congress passing a short-term fix, they believe he will sign it because they were able to keep other controversial policy riders off of it. "I think the message is don't add anything else to it," said Sen. MORE (D-W.Va.) is also pushing for legislation benefiting miners to be attached to the short-term spending package. Senators were spotted singing multiple Christmas carols as they waited for action on the continuing resolution. Though members of the impromptu choir rotated as senators shuffled around the floor, Democratic Sens. MORE (D-N.Y.) huddled in McConnell’s office on Tuesday morning to try to craft a path forward. But hope of a long-term deal was quickly dashed when House Democratic Leader MORE (D-Calif.) told reporters that Democrats couldn't accept the deal offered by Republicans. “Senator Schumer — Leader Schumer and I have said that we cannot accept the offer they made of a billion dollar slush fund for the President to implement his very wrong immigration policies, so that won’t happe... Link to the full article to read more