The Senate approved a $585-billion Dept. of Defense authorization bill by an 89-11 vote on Dec. 12, one of the last days of the lame-duck session.
With the Senate's passage late on Dec. 13 of the $1.1-trillion “CRominbus”—a neologism that combines "continuing resolution," or "CR," and "omnibus"—spending bill that authorizes spending for most of the government through Sept. 30, 2015, the chamber has only two major pieces of legislation to consider before lawmakers go home for the year: a bill extending expired tax provisions and a business-supported bill extending terrorism insurance for another five years.