The U.S. Senate on Aug. 1 passed a so-called “minibus” spending package to fund the government in the upcoming fiscal year, approving a slate of noncontroversial spending items.

The slate of funding bills includes about $187 billion in appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), legislative branch operations, military construction, and rural development.

It’s the first time in years that the Senate has passed any funding legislation before the August recess.

The bills were passed in overwhelming bipartisan votes in two parts.

The chamber voted 87–9 in favor of passing a bill to fund military construction, the VA, agriculture, and the FDA. The bill to fund the legislative branch—including salaries, resources for lawmakers, and other operational expenses—passed 81–15.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) demanded the chance to vote on the approximately $7 billion legislative branch measure separately from the rest of the package.

That $7 billion would go to fund operations in both chambers of Congress, as well as the U.S. Capitol Police, which provides security for both, and the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees maintenance and renovations of the expansive Capitol complex. A sum of $44.5 million is delegated for additional security and member protection.

The Library of Congress, Government Accountability Office, and Congressional Research Service would see their funding remain at fiscal year 2025 levels. The Capitol Police and Congressional Budget Office would see a funding boost.

Kennedy has told reporters that he believes the legislature should practice the same restraint as other branches of the government are being asked to endure.

Leadership agreed to split up the votes in line with Kennedy’s demands, but the suite of bills will be sent to the House as a complete package, dubbed a “minibus,” a term used to describe partial government funding bills that wrap in several pieces of individual legislation.

The package covers three of the 12 funding bills that Congress must pass every year to avoid a government shutdown. Currently, funding is being covered by a stopgap spending bill passed in March. The deadline for passing new funding is Sept. 30.

The House has already left for its August recess, and senators hope to join them soon. That leaves most congressional action on government funding, including approval by the House of the Senate-passed bills, for after the break.

The items included in the package passed on Aug. 1 are some of the least-divisive aspects of federal funding—an issue that is otherwise one of the most divisive in Congress.

A major chunk of the funding approved by the Senate will support the VA and the Department of Defense. The VA will receive $133 billion under the bill, most of it slated for medical care. The Pentagon will receive $20 billion for construction programs.

The agriculture funding bill proposes $27 billion in discretionary funding for the upcoming fiscal year.

A sizable portion of that—$8.2 billion—is slated to go to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, commonly known as WIC.

The bill delegates $7 billion to the FDA, $1.7 billion for rental assistance, and about $1.2 billion for food safety inspections.

The House will vote on the bills after the August recess.

When lawmakers return from the break, funding is likely to be their top priority. If both chambers fail to pass all 12 required funding bills before the Sept. 30 deadline, the government will go into a shutdown.