Slow progress on bill to battle Zika and prevent shutdown

Congressional aides said that progress included an offer from Republicans to drop especially controversial provisions that would have eased pesticide regulations under the Clean Water Act and blocked tighter regulations on the length of workweeks for truckers.

[...] the Senate's top Democrat says a battle continues to rage over a demand by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to make sure corporations do not have to disclose their spending on political activities to investors.

Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also said his party is fighting a move by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to block the government from ceding control over some of the internet's key systems — namely, the directories that help web browsers and apps locate information on the web.

The roster of often arcane issues are coming into play because the stopgap spending measure — it would keep the government running into December — is the last piece of must-do business facing Congress before it recesses for the fall campaign.

On the stopgap spending bill, McConnell told reporters that negotiators are making progress on the measure but that the Senate won't pass the as-yet-unfinished bill until next week — just days before a midnight deadline Sept. 30 to avert a government shutdown.