After Friday's agreement to end the shutdown at least until February 15, most of the Senate's Democrats on Monday joined Republicans in favour of taking up the legislation, introduced by Republican Senator Marco Rubio.
The legislation includes provisions to impose new sanctions on Syria and guarantee security assistance to Israel and Jordan. Those are seen as efforts to reassure Washington's allies worried about shifts in United States's policy since President Donald Trump abruptly announced plans last month for a quick withdrawal of his country's troops from war-torn Syria.
However, the act also includes a controversial measure that combats the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a Palestinian non-violent campaign for human rights.
It would allow US states and localities to retaliate commercially against companies or individuals supporting BDS.
Opponents consider the BDS provision an impingement of free speech.
"While I do not support the BDS movement, we must defend every American's constitutional right to engage in political activity. It is clear to me that this bill would violate Americans' First Amendment rights," said Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and was a "no" vote on Monday.
Earlier this month, recently sworn-in Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and Palestinian-American who supports the BDS movement, condemned the bill on Twitter, saying, "this is the US where boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality".
The American Civil Liberties Union has also said the anti-BDS measure's inclusion in the wider bill "sends a message to Americans that they will be penalised if they dare to disagree with their government".
The BDS movement was launched in 2005 by Palestinians seeking to generate international pressure on Israel to respect Palestinian human rights.
Proponents say the effort draws from the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa in the 1980s and the earlier African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
Israel sees BDS as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism - a claim activists firmly deny, calling it an attempt to discredit them.