WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House on Friday evening passed a short-term bill to avert a government shutdown, just hours ahead of a deadline that would force U.S. troops, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers and millions of other federal workers to work without pay during the holidays.
The vote was 366-34, with all opposition coming from Republicans and one member voting present. It capped a tumultuous week in the House that foreshadowed how the new Congress in January might deal with a mercurial Donald Trump back in the White House. A two-thirds vote was needed because the bill came to the floor under a fast-track process.
The legislation now heads to the Senate which must pass it before 12:01 a.m. to avert a shutdown.
The package funds the government at current levels through March 14, and includes disaster aid and a farm bill — while stripping out a debt limit extension demanded by President-elect Trump earlier in the week.
Just three days ago, bipartisan House and Senate leaders struck an agreement to keep the government’s lights on, but Trump and his billionaire confidant Elon Musk killed the deal, insisting at the 11th hour it needed to extend or abolish the debt limit to make way for Trump’s agenda next year.
A backup plan — slimmed down from the original deal and endorsed by Trump and Musk — then went down in flames on the House floor, tanked by Democrats as well as 38 Republicans who objected to the debt extension.
That left Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is fighting to keep his leadership job, with few good options. After privately huddling with rank-and-file Republicans for more than two hours, Johnson told his party he was pressing forward with Plan C: the same package brought to the floor a day earlier but without Trump’s debt increase.
Earlier Friday, leaders floated breaking up the package into three separate parts and having lawmakers vote on them individually on the floor, according to GOP sources familiar with the plan. But the one-package proposal was seen as an easier lift with the clock ticking down.
Exiting the private GOP meeting, Johnson told reporters there would not be a shutdown and that House Republicans are “unified.”
“We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he spoke to both Trump and Musk on Friday. “I’ve talked to President Trump, in detail, and he knows exactly what we’re doing,” the speaker said.
Musk appeared to endorse the plan as the House was voting, writing on his social media site, X, that Johnson “did a good job here, given the circumstances.”
The president-elect had chosen to remain silent on the bill, according to another source familiar with his thinking. Trump’s preference is still to address the debt ceiling, that source said, adding, “Johnson should have listened when the President-elect told him this a month ago. And in every conversation since.”
But Trump may be willing to take a “win” on a funding deal that cuts a significant amount of what he saw as “pork,” the source continued, noting that the process gave Trump’s team insight into where votes are in both parties for dealing with the debt limit next year.
To get around Trump’s last-minute demand of raising the debt ceiling, Republicans have instead agreed to commit to slash more than $2 trillion in government spending and tuck a debt hike likely in a reconciliation package next year, according to multiple lawmakers.
Johnson was in a tough position: He could not pass a bill without Democrats, who still control the Senate and the White House and were determined not to give in to Trump’s 11th-hour demands. But he still has to maintain support within his conference or risk jeopardizing his prospects of being re-elected as speaker in two weeks, on Jan. 3, with a wafer-thin House majority.
“This is a defining moment for his career as speaker,” said Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., a Johnson critic. “What he does and how he handles this, how he handles our conference … will define who he is, if he is a serious leader, and if he’s going to survive this leadership vote.”
Jeffries said Friday that Trump was rushing to set aside the debt limit so Republicans can pass a tax cut for the wealthy next year.
“A painful government shutdown that will crash the economy and hurt working class Americans, because they would rather enact massive tax cuts for their billionaire donors than fund cancer research for children,” Jeffries said, referring to a provision in the original deal that GOP leaders stripped out.
Senate Democrats had called on Johnson to return to the bipartisan deal that Trump and Musk blew up.
“It’s time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago. It’s time for that. It’s time the House votes on our bipartisan CR [continuing resolution],” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday on the floor. “It’s the quickest, simplest and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people.”
In the midst of the battle, Democrats believe they have found a populist economic message to rally voters to their side, depicting Musk as an oligarch who was pulling Trump’s strings.
“I’m ready to stay here through Christmas because we’re not going to let Elon Musk run the government,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement. “Put simply, we should not let an unelected billionaire rip away research for pediatric cancer so he can get a tax cut.”
