WASHINGTON _ Retired miners in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and other coal states have a big stake in the budget bill stuck in the Senate. So do North Carolina victims of Hurricane Matthew, and Defense Secretary-nominee James Mattis.
But they had to wait, because the Senate spent Friday deadlocked over legislation to keep most of the government running past midnight. A deal to vote on the budget appeared likely late Friday.
The bill would keep most of the government running through April 28. It funds the government at roughly the same levels as last year, and adds money for disaster relief and some other programs.
A key roadblock was a dispute over funds for retired miners' benefits set to lapse Dec. 31. Coal state senators wanted help beyond late April.
"Missouri's own Harry Truman, whose Senate seat I hold today, made a promise to these coal miners when he was president. I'm fighting to keep his promise," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who participated in an angry Senate debate late Friday, as a group of miners watched from the gallery.
The House passed the bill overwhelmingly Thursday, then left for the year. If the Senate doesn't go along, parts of the government will begin shutting down after midnight. The effects would be minimal, largely confined to national parks and monuments unlikely to open for the weekend.
It's unlikely, though, that any shutdown would go into the work week. For procedural reasons, the matter is almost certain to be resolved by Sunday night.
Among the bill's other provisions:
_Mattis _ a Pullman, Wash., native and retired Marine general who left the military three years ago _ has been nominated to be secretary of defense. The law bars former military personnel from serving in the job until they've been separated from the service for seven years. The bill would waive that restriction.
_ There's more money for communities in North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Matthew in October. Some of the federal disaster recovery aid would go to the state's farmers through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Other funding in the bill would help repair highways damaged by flooding and provide assistance through Community Development Block Grants for areas hit hardest in the eastern part of the state.
North Carolina's lawmakers have estimated the spending bill would pave the way for at least $300 million in federal funding for post-Hurricane Matthew relief.
_ Food safety inspections at meat packing plants likely would continue, since those services are deemed essential. But federal farm loans and payments would cease.
_The budget bill would extend the benefits for 16,000 retired coal miners through the end of April. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and his allies want a one-year extension. A longer-term fix for the United Mine Workers of America pension and health care fund they had sought appears to be off the table for now.
Even a one-year extension will be tough to get, since the House has left for the year.
McConnell was confident the retirees would not lose benefits next year, including more than 3,000 in his home state of Kentucky.
"I think it's highly unlikely that we'll take it away," he said. "It's been my intention that the miner benefits not expire at the end of April next year."
And, he pledged, "I'm going to work with my colleagues to prevent that."
So pass the budget, he urged. It at least guarantees health care for miners through April. "Failure to pass it guarantees it goes away at the end of the month," McConnell said.
Manchin introduced a bill to make a permanent fix for the pension and health care fund in July 2015, and the Senate Finance Committee approved the Miners Protection Act in September by a vote of 18-8.
The measure has 25 co-sponsors, half of them Republicans. Yet McConnell has not brought the bill to the floor for a vote.
Thousands of retired coal miners came to Washington on a sweltering day in September to rally for the bill. It averages $530 a month and helps keep many families out of poverty.
"There's a lot of widows and miners in eastern Kentucky that depend on the UMWA pension for their health care," said Joseph Hatfield of Pikeville, Ky., the president of the United Mine Workers Union's Local 1511, at the September rally.
