House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Fund Government for 45 Days, Averting Shutdown
The House of Representatives voted 335-91 on Saturday to pass a bill that will fund the government for 45 days, just hours before a government shutdown was set to go into effect. The bill, proposed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, received support from more Democrats than Republicans, with 90 Republicans voting against it and only one Democrat voting against it.
McCarthy was forced to rely on Democrats for passage due to opposition from the hard-right members of his party, who opposed any short-term funding measure. To secure passage, McCarthy set up a voting process that required a two-thirds supermajority, or about 290 votes in the 435-member House. With Republicans holding a slim majority of 221-212, McCarthy needed Democratic support to pass the bill.
The bill will now move to the Senate for a vote. McCarthy announced on Saturday morning that he would seek Democratic help in pushing the short-term funding bill through the House in order to keep the government open. He stated that this would give lawmakers more time to work on individual appropriations bills. The bill does not include funding for Ukraine, which was sought by Democrats but opposed by many Republicans, but it does provide for disaster relief.
The White House welcomed the passage of the bill, noting that it keeps the government open at higher funding levels than the Senate bill and includes disaster relief and FAA authorization. The White House expects McCarthy to bring a separate bill for Ukraine funding to the floor shortly.
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota reassured Ukrainians that they should not view the vote as negative and expressed confidence that border security and a supplemental bill for Ukraine could be addressed in the near future.
Before the House vote, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries initially requested more time to review the bill and criticized Republicans for rushing it at the last minute. To allow for more time, Jeffries used his “magic minute” privilege to speak for nearly an hour on the House floor. The Senate had been working on its own bill to fund the government through November 17, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urged his members to vote against advancing the Senate version to see if the House could pass its temporary funding measure.
Without a deal in place before Sunday, federal workers face furloughs, military troops will work without pay, and programs and services across the country will face disruptions. McCarthy’s reliance on Democratic votes has put his role as speaker at risk, as hard-right lawmakers have warned they will attempt to remove him from office.
The House’s swift action on Saturday came after McCarthy’s earlier plan to pass a Republican-only bill with steep spending cuts was rejected by the White House and Democrats. The collapse of that plan left the federal government on the brink of a shutdown, causing uncertainty for federal workers and disrupting essential services.
The government funding bill will now move to the Senate for consideration. Both chambers must reach an agreement before Sunday to avert a government shutdown.