Spending bills begin on bipartisan note

WASHINGTON — Sen­ate Repub­li­cans on Thurs­day rejected cut­ting agency bud­gets below lev­els agreed to in last summer’s bud­get and debt pact with Pres­i­dent Barack Obama as a key com­mit­tee kicked off action on a round of 12 annual spend­ing bills total­ing more than $1.1 trillion.