WASHINGTON (AP) — A dispute over budget cuts that threaten dozens of smaller control towers with closure slowed Senate progress Tuesday on legislation needed to avoid a government shutdown on March 27.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, refused repeatedly to permit final passage of the measure unless Democrats first allow a vote on his plan for erasing most of the cuts aimed at towers operated by Federal Aviation Administration contract employees.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., just as persistently declined to give in, and other Democrats noted that House Republicans had rejected calls to give all federal agencies the type of budget flexibility that Moran was seeking.