The Senate on Thursday voted 85-7 to approve a package of bills that would appropriate $854B in funds for fiscal 2019, Reuters reported Thursday.Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle agreed to combine the appropriations bills for the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor and Education in order to facilitate the passage of the package in the upper chamber as they work to avoid a government shutdown by the end of September.
Military Times reported the minibus measure would allocate $675B in fiscal 2019 funds for DoD, including approximately $68B for overseas contingency operations.
The defense appropriations bill would earmark $34.5B for the defense health program; $237B for readiness efforts; $24B for the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding programs; $42B for 12 F-35 fighter jets; and $930 million for hypersonic programs.
The report said the House is expected to tackle its appropriations measure once it resumes legislative session on Sept. 4.
