Article snippet: The Senate approved a stopgap spending bill MORE. Senators voted 66-32 to approve the roughly four-week continuing resolution (CR), which funds the government through Jan. 19, hours after it passed the House. Seventeen Democrats voted for the measure, including several up for reelection next year in states carried by Trump such as Sens. MORE (V.Wa.). But leadership, including Minority Leader MORE (D-N.Y.), as well as many of the party's potential 2020 contenders opposed the bill. Two Republicans, MORE (Ky.), bucked their party and voted no. The vote concludes a successful week for Republicans, who on Wednesday finished work on a sweeping tax-cut bill that marked the first major legislative win for Trump. There were some hiccups along the way with the spending bill, but GOP leaders shepherded the legislation through both chambers on Thursday in part by arguing that it did not make sense to step on the party's successful message on taxes. Defense hawks had pressed for more funding for the Pentagon. They wanted a deal that increased the spending ceilings for defense, and that would prevent automatic spending cuts scheduled to start at the end of next month without a new measure for the year. Meanwhile, a coalition of progressive Democrats bucked the bill because lawmakers failed to get a deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by the end of the year. Democrats lined up on the Senate floor ahead of the vote to demand that Congress pass the... Link to the full article to read more