Thune hopes to vote Sunday on proposal to reopen government

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Sunday said that if Democrats vote to advance a House-passed continuing resolution, he will offer as a substitute another stopgap spending measure with a later expiration date combined with three full-year appropriations bills, known as a minibus.

Thune told reporters that the Senate will vote Sunday afternoon on a proposal to open the government, after not holding any votes Saturday afternoon.

The text of the legislation is expected to be released early Sunday afternoon.

It is expected to include the regular appropriations bills funding military construction, veterans affairs, the Department of Agriculture and the legislative branch — which have already been conferenced with House appropriators — and a stopgap measure funding the rest of the federal government until late January.

Thune said he will move to replace the House-passed continuing resolution, a "clean" bill that funds government through Nov. 21, with the combined continuing resolution and minibus, which one Senate GOP aide dubbed the "Criminibus."

Republican senators gathered in the Mansfield Room on Sunday to munch on pizzas from Andy’s Pizza and leftover Halloween candy to discuss their next steps.