The U.S. Congress passed a three-month government funding package on Wednesday, averting a government shutdown that was set to begin next Tuesday.
The Senate approved the funding package just two hours after the House of Representatives passed the bill Wednesday afternoon, as lawmakers rushed to return to their home districts six weeks before Election Day.
The bill received significant bipartisan support in both chambers. The Senate voted 78-18 to pass it, after the House of Representatives approved the legislation by a vote of 341-82. All of the votes against the bill, which would extend government funding through Dec. 20, came from Republicans.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson introduced the legislation on Sunday after his original funding proposal failed last week. Johnson’s original bill combined a six-month funding measure with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) Act, a controversial proposal that would require people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Fourteen House Republicans and all but two House Democrats voted against that bill last Wednesday, blocking its passage.
Days later, Johnson announced that the House would move forward with a “very limited, basic CR” that would extend government funding for three months, meeting weeks of Democrats’ demands.
Related: US Congress approves funding deal to avert shutdown, setback for Trump
“Given that we have missed the finish line, an alternative plan is now needed,” Johnson said in a letter to “Dear Colleagues” sent on Sunday. “While this is not the solution we would prefer, it is the most sensible way forward in the current circumstances. As history has shown us and current polling confirms, shutting down the government less than 40 days before a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice.”
The recently passed bill also includes an additional $231 million for the Secret Service “for operations necessary to conduct protective operations, including the 2024 presidential campaign and national special security events,” following the two recent assassination attempts on Donald Trump.
During debate on the bill in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the Budget Committee, urged his colleagues to support the legislation and avoid a shutdown that he described as pointless.
“It is the responsibility of Congress to ensure that government remains open and serves the American people,” Cole said. “We are here to prevent damaging disruptions to our national security and the vital programs our constituents rely on.”
The bill was considered suspended from the rules, meaning Johnson would need the support of two-thirds of the chamber to pass it. House Democratic leaders had indicated that most of their caucus would support the funding package now that it no longer contained right-wing “poison pills,” and all Democrats present voted to approve it on Wednesday.
“We have an obligation in this chamber: to govern, to govern, to say to the American people, ‘We are here on your behalf,'” Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said during the debate. “The legislative process is not one where you get everything you want. It’s about compromise. It’s about coming together to recognize that we have this obligation and this responsibility.”
The bill faced significant opposition from far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives, who have been fiercely critical of short-term resolutions in the past.
“We continue to irresponsibly spend money that we don’t have, that we haven’t collected, and we continue to retreat into the corners of our safe political spaces and hide behind them to try to sell something to the American people,” Chip Roy, a far-right Republican in the Texas House of Representatives, said during the debate. “The American people are looking at us and thinking, ‘What the hell is wrong with Washington?’”
Roy predicted that passage of the continuing resolution would lead to the House passing a much broader full-year funding bill, known as an omnibus, before its December recess. Johnson has vehemently denied that charge, telling reporters at a news conference on Tuesday: “We’ve got Christmas [omnibus]and I have no intention of returning to that horrible tradition… We’ll address that in the lame duck.”
During the floor debate, Cole suggested that the results of the November elections would give Congress clearer guidance on how to proceed with a full-year funding package.
“We’re going to shut down the government, and not accomplish anything by shutting it down, or we’re going to keep it open and continue to work on our issues and, frankly, give the American people a chance in the election — through their votes and their voices — to decide who comes back here,” Cole said. “And I suspect that will clarify a lot of the decisions that lie ahead of us.”
After the House passed the funding bill, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer immediately moved to take up the legislation. Schumer had expressed frustration with the last-minute nature of the funding deal, despite widespread expectations that negotiations would ultimately end with a three-month continuing resolution. Schumer blamed the delay on Trump, who had urged Republican lawmakers to reject any funding bill that did not include “election security” provisions.
Related: Senate Majority Leader Schumer Tries to Avoid Shutdown After House Speaker ‘Flop’
“This deal could have easily been reached weeks ago, but Speaker Johnson and the Republicans in the House of Representatives chose to listen to Donald Trump’s partisan demands rather than work with us from the beginning to reach a bicameral, bipartisan deal,” Schumer said Monday. “That is outrageously cynical: Donald Trump knows full well that a shutdown would mean chaos, pain, and needless heartache for the American people. But as usual, he just doesn’t seem to care.”
It remains unclear how or when Trump will retaliate against Johnson for failing to pass a funding bill related to “election security” measures. Johnson has played down any suggestion of a potential rift between him and Trump, insisting there is “no daylight” between their positions.
“President Trump understands the dilemma and the situation that we’re in,” Johnson told reporters earlier Tuesday. “So we’re going to continue to work very closely together. I’m not challenging President Trump. We’re doing our jobs and I think he understands that.”
