WASHINGTON _ Three months away from tough midterm elections, Republicans urgently want to secure bragging rights for their work boosting the military and giving troops a pay raise.
They have to pass legislation to pay for it first _ driving the GOP, which has sworn off big spending bills, toward once again cutting a deal with Democrats.
A plan currently in the works would have senators approve money for defense and some of the programs Democrats view most crucial _ public broadcasting, Head Start programs and the operation of Obamacare _ all in the same vote.
Fiscal conservatives have long railed against that strategy to fund the government, complaining it creates bigger federal deficits.
But Republicans desperately want the increased defense money in place as soon as possible, and Democrats say they'll block it if they don't get assurances on some of their own priorities.
"Republicans have always seen defense as their most important bill, and Democrats have seen labor and (health and human services) as their most important bill," said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a senior Republican in charge of the Senate panel that writes spending bills on key domestic programs.
"I think by putting them both together, nobody has to be hesitant that their number one priority isn't going to get the attention that they'd like it to have," Blunt said in an interview this week.
Major legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes to end debate, and Republicans control 51 of the chamber's 100 seats.
The Senate still needs to pass eight of the 12 spending bills that fund the federal government for the coming 2019 fiscal year. Those bills must be combined with versions passed already by the House, then signed by the president before the Oct. 1 deadline.
"(Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell and I have had almost daily conversations about the appropriations bill, and we're making very good progress," Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters on Capitol Hill this week.
If those conversations stumble, Congress must agree to temporarily keep agencies without signed spending bills funded at their current level, in order to avoid a government shutdown.
That prospect would be particularly devastating to Republicans when it comes to defense.
They've long promised big increases to restore military readiness _ something Republicans complain was lacking for nearly a decade under President Barack Obama.
Congress' $717 billion defense policy bill, approved by the Senate Wednesday, calls for a 2.6 percent pay raise for military members, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade military bases across the country.
In North Texas, for example, it authorizes improvements for the F-16 aircraft flown by the 301st Fighter Wing at Joint Base Fort Worth.
"We've been trying to do this for a long time," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a senior member of the Armed Services Committee who oversaw passage of the defense policy bill.
"I'm for doing whatever we need do to try to get (it funded)," he added.
The Labor and HHS budget would spend $179.3 billion to fund, among other things, the operation of Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid.
It also pays for some other programs Republicans want to tout this fall, such as funding for medical research and opioid abuse prevention. The fiscal 2019 plan would increase the agencies' budget by $2.2 billion from the previous year.
"Once you take defense off the table, labor (and health) is almost a third of what's left in the other 11 (spending) bills," said Blunt, who chairs the panel on labor and health's spending. "Putting that third with the defense bill lets everyone know that we're serious about getting most of this work done."
President Donald Trump warned lawmakers against big all-encompassing spending bills after signing a $1.3 trillion budget bill he'd first threatened to veto back in March..
As the Senate left Wednesday for a two-week recess, top GOP Senate budget-writers, including Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said they supported Blunt's plan.
Some of the Senate's most vocal fiscal conservatives, on the other hand, seemed unaware of the deal in the works.
"I haven't been a part of those discussions," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
"I'd have to see what's in the bill," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who also voted against the March budget bill.
The Senate's labor and HHS funding bill was approved by Blunt's subcommittee with the support of both parties.
If approved by the Senate, it must still be combined with a version produced in the House, where conservatives hold much more sway.
"There will be people in our conference that would love to vote for the defense bill that won't vote for it with Labor (and health) on it," said Blunt. "(But) I don't know that we have made big concessions here."
