The House passed legislation Friday hours before the deadline to avert a government shutdown, sending the bill to the Senate for consideration after a tumultuous week on Capitol Hill.
The chamber voted 366-34-1 in favor of the bill, clearing the two-thirds threshold needed for passage because GOP leadership had brought up the bill as part of the expedited suspension of the rules process. All Democrats but one — Rep. Jasmine Crockett (Texas), who voted present — joined 170 Republicans who voted “yes.”
Senate Minority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that the upper chamber could decide on the further resolution on Friday. The law stipulates a midnight deadline.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) praised the bill after the vote as “‘America First’ legislation because it allows us to take care of the American people.”
“In January we will make a fundamental change in Washington. President Trump will return to DC and the White House, and we will have Republican control of the Senate and House. Things will be very different here. This was.” “A necessary step to close the gap and get us to the moment when we can leave our fingerprints on the final spending decisions for 2025,” he said.
The package – which Johnson was introduced shortly before the vote — would fund the government at current levels through March 14, extend the farm bill for a year and provide billions of dollars in disaster relief and support for farmers.
But the bill contains no language raising the debt limit, a last-minute request from President-elect Trump that threw a wrench into fragile negotiations over government funding.
Instead of raising the debt ceiling, Republicans agreed to a $1.5 trillion boost in the borrowing ceiling in return for $2.5 trillion in net spending cuts. This was done as part of a reconciliation package in the next Congress, two sources told The Hill.
The passage of the federal funding plan in the House of Representatives marks the culmination of a turbulent three days on Capitol Hill. Republicans went through four different spending proposals, contending with the influence of Trump and Elon Musk and, among some, becoming increasingly frustrated with Johnson’s handling of the situation.
It’s just a taste of what’s expected to be a confused time in Washington, with Republicans set to hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives and Republican lawmakers preparing to legislate at the whims of the up-to-date Trump administration.
Short term is now The questions are piling up over whether Johnson can retain the gavel on January 3 when he puts his nomination for speaker up for a vote in the House chamber. Johnson can only afford to lose a handful of Republicans in this vote.
House Republicans unanimously nominated Johnson for speaker in November, but their dissatisfaction with him has grown since then — particularly given his leadership during the funding fight.
“We legislate here in Braille,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who publicly announced his decision not to support Johnson next month. “I think that wasn’t handled well, and then I still have all the complaints from the last one earlier this year, FISA, Ukraine, all those things. I think there will be a reckoning at some point.”
The funding deal approved Friday was the fourth proposal presented by Johnson during the government funding debacle.
First, he launched a bipartisan, bicameral package negotiated by senior lawmakers that would extend funding through March 14 while including a number of unnecessary policy provisions. However, the spokesman never brought it up given Trump’s opposition.
Next came a proposal to fund the government through mid-March and suspend the debt limit for two years, an attempt to meet Trump’s demand in the fourth quarter. However, Democrats and a group of Republicans torpedoed the measure and sent Johnson back to the drawing board.
On Friday morning, lawmakers decided to split the funding package into three components to vote separately on a continuing resolution, disaster relief and support for farmers, which would be considered under a procedural rule. But after a closed conference, Johnson chose the unified spending bill, which included disaster aid and support for farmers, and moved to fast-track consideration of it.
“We will not see a government shutdown,” Johnson said. “And we will fulfill our commitments to our farmers who need assistance, to disaster victims across the country, and to ensuring that the military and essential services and everyone whose pay depends on the federal government are paid through the holidays.”
And after a brief caucus meeting, several House Democrats said they would support the measure.
Much of the emergency plan’s funding would go toward disaster relief, with about $100 billion in aid amid increasing bipartisan pressure in both chambers after hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Among the largest single items in disaster relief is nearly $29 billion in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, as officials have warned in recent weeks of dwindling funds.
There is approximately $2 billion available for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) disaster loan program, which businesses and homeowners rely on for low-interest loans to recover from disasters. Of this amount, $50 million will be allocated to the SBA’s Office of Inspector General for audits and reviews of disaster loans and disaster loan programs. Officials said the program ran out of funding during hurricane season.
More than $20 billion would go to the Agriculture Department for disaster relief, while lawmakers also agreed to $10 billion in additional economic aid for farmers and about $8 million for oversight by the Office of Inspector General.
It also includes more than $12 billion in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Agriculture, Forestry and Interior, which negotiators say are crucial to address the impact of disasters in 2024 and recent years .
But many Democrats have criticized the scaled-down version of the funding agreement they reached with GOP leadership earlier this week.
“They want to take out things like cancer treatment for children, things like pharmacy benefit manager reforms that lower drug prices for Americans. They want to destroy community health centers,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said of Republicans.
Some House Republicans have also lamented the scrapping of previous add-ons that had bipartisan support, particularly on health care, and have criticized Trump allies like Musk for spreading misinformation about some of the contents of the previous funding package.
Other items that were criticized in the original bipartisan funding plan and have since been removed included measures that would transfer administrative authority over RFK Stadium to D.C. and language allowing cost-of-living adjustments in lawmakers’ salaries For the first time in years.
