Senate Republicans are moving swiftly to clear key hurdles in their effort to pass a set of spending bills before the August recess and get the ball moving toward avoiding a government shutdown in two months.

Appropriators are crafting a three-bill package that covers full-year funding for the departments of Agriculture (USDA), Veterans Affairs (VA), Commerce, Justice (DOJ), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), rural development, military construction and science agencies.

Both chambers have fallen behind on their funding work, and appropriators are eager to put some bipartisan points on the board before the September sprint to avoid a shutdown that will greet them when they return from recess.

Republicans took a major step Tuesday by clearing two key holds on the package, giving them a clear path on their side as they await word from Democrats on what they hope will be a bipartisan effort to get the measure across the finish line in the coming days.

“[We] have essentially resolved the holds that have to do with appropriations,” Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters, lauding the “great progress” by negotiators.

Chief among the issues they resolved was one raised by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who had placed the hold over language that would have downgraded the military hospital at Fort Leonard Wood in central Missouri to a clinic.

“We’ve got a deal, I think,” Hawley told reporters Tuesday afternoon, calling the potential downgrade a “disaster.”

The Missouri senator also argued........

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