Senators Thursday are debating the $1.1 trillion budget. A vote on cutting debate is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m., and if successful, a final vote would follow.
The bill is widely expected to pass, and Thursday, the package was lauded by top appropriators from both parties.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., called Wednesday's overwhelming House of Representatives vote to approve the plan "amazing."
And, she said, "After three years of damaging cuts that have hurt our people, this agreement turns the corner."
The committee's vice chairman, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., had similar thoughts.
He called the bill "a compromise," and noted, "We, of course, have our differences and each of us would like many things in this bill to be different, but that is the nature of a negotiation and ultimately of a compromise.
"There are things you like and things you don’t like. But, on balance, it represents a middle ground upon which, I believe, we can all comfortably stand.
"It is certainly far better than the alternative, which would be another confrontation, another government shutdown, and another giant step further away from establishing some sense of regular order."