With less than seven hours before a partial government shutdown, the House has passed a short-term funding bill to keep the government open and allocate limited federal aid.
The last-minute Continuing Resolution will fund the government until March 14, allocate about $100 billion in disaster relief and extend the farm bill. It received a total of 366 favorable votes, backed by 170 Republicans and 196 Democrats. The CR is nearly the same as the bill roundly rejected by the House on Thursday, except it axes a provision suspending the debt ceiling.
Between two potential last-ditch funding deals, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ultimately decided Friday afternoon to bring a single comprehensive funding bill to the floor, a pivot from his expected choice of breaking the funding plan into three separate votes.
The looming partial shutdown right before the holidays is the result of Congress punting the deadline in September, when they passed a temporary Continuing Resolution to keep the government open until Dec. 20.
Johnson’s first attempt at a December government funding deal, a bloated 1,547-page CR negotiated with Democratic congressional leaders, blew up Wednesday night after President-elect Donald Trump and ally Elon Musk loudly condemned it for including billions of dollars worth of wishlist items.
After hastily meeting with members of Trump’s team, Johnson released an 116-page “skinny CR,” which not only cut most of Democrat’s demands but also included a 2-year debt suspension, per Trump’s request.
As expected, Democrats revolted over the axing of their previously negotiated priorities, while a substantial number of Republicans also opposed the bill because of the debt ceiling suspension. With 38 Republicans rejecting the American Relief Act, 2025, it fell embarrassingly short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass, sending Johnson back to the drawing board.
After that, Johnson and his team worked to thread the impossible needle of creating a plan that placates both Democrats and Republicans, coming up with the two potential options late Friday afternoon.
Despite Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., declaring Friday morning that Senate Democrats would only vote for the original CR, the newest 118-page bill is palatable enough that it is expected to pass the Senate, possibly before Saturday.
If the vote does drag on into the weekend, the temporary government shutdown that follows will have only a minimal impact.
