WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Republican leaders will try to pass a large catch-all 2005 omnibus appropriations bill when Congress returns in September.
However, sources said the bill will not include the two largest spending bills -- one funding the Veterans Administration and Department of Housing and Urban Development and another funding federal labor, heath, social services, and education funding.
The measure is expected to include all the bills that have been approved by the House up to that time.
While the House has been moving along at a clipped pace on appropriations bills this month, the Senate has yet to approve more than one of the required annual spending bills.
The plan reportedly would allow members of both parties to propose amendments, a move Senate GOP leaders would like to avoid but can not due to the lack of an approved budget resolution limiting debate.
The move to keep the two largest bills out of the catch-all measure is intended to help Republicans avoid potentially nasty fighting over a host of issues --including veterans, education and healthcare funding matters -- before the November elections, not just with Democrats but also potentially between members of the GOP as well.
