This vote was on passing the $4.7 billion fiscal 2010 legislative branch spending bill.  The bill would provide money for the operations of Congress and its associated branches, including the Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Capitol Police. 

“This bill funds the salaries of the very dedicated public servants who support the legislative branch of government. In crafting this bill, it was our firm belief that the legislative branch should lead by example, funding only the most critical needs of our agencies and being good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars,” said Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who primarily wrote the bill.

The legislative branch spending bill is one of the smaller and generally less controversial appropriations bills Congress considers each year, but this year Republicans took some time criticizing Democrats for how much more money over last year’s levels the bill would spend, given the current economic climate.

“There are millions of American families who are not dealing with any increase this year in their incomes. They are dealing with a huge decrease. They are dealing with a huge decrease in savings. So can’t we simply live with the same dollar amount as we did in the legislative branch last year? I think the huge majority of Americans would find that a very reasonable and a very modest goal,” said David Vitter, R-La.

By a vote of 67-25, the Senate passed the bill.  All but four Democrats present voted for the bill.  Of Republicans present, 17 voted for the bill and 21 voted against it.  The end result is that the Senate passed a $4.7 billion bill that funds the operations of the legislative branch in fiscal 2010.