Senate Democrats on Tuesday cautiously agreed to advance bipartisan legislation funding military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs, less than a week after Republicans rammed through a partisan bill to defund PBS, NPR and global aid programs.

Thirty-eight Democrats voted for a motion to proceed to the bill after holding a long lunchtime meeting in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Room just off the Senate floor to hash out their strategy. The legislation advanced by a vote of 90 to 8.

The bill, which provides $153.5 billion in discretionary funding, passed out of the Appropriations Committee with a 26-3 bipartisan vote.

It's the first appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026 to advance on the Senate floor.

It includes $342 million to support improved access to rural health care, $3.5 billion for the Veterans Affairs........

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