House Republicans approved a short-term government spending package Friday to avert a shutdown at month’s end, sending the bill to the Senate and setting up a clash with upper-chamber Democrats vowing to sink the measure.
The legislation was crafted by Republicans, without Democratic input, and that dynamic was reflected in the lopsided 217-212 vote, which fell largely along partisan lines.
Two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.), opposed the legislation, to protest deficit spending levels they deem too high, while one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (Maine), crossed the aisle to support the bill.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the House GOP-passed stopgap and a competing measure crafted by Senate Democrats on Friday afternoon. Both are expected to fail, and both chambers are vowing to leave Washington for a weeklong holiday break, leaving little time to reach a resolution to prevent a shutdown on Oct. 1.
The GOP stopgap passed Friday, dubbed a “clean” continuing resolution (CR) by Republicans, extends government funding at current levels through Nov. 21, with some other bipartisan measures attached.
Johnson has argued the seven-week funding measures will give congressional appropriators the time they need to move through the regular funding process, which is rarely ever followed. In a show of progress on that front, the House has separately moved to create a formal conference committee to resolve differences between three of the 12 regular House and Senate funding bills.
The bill also includes millions of dollars to boost security for federal officials, as concerns have swirled in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It meets the Trump administration’s request for an additional $58 million for security for public officials — $30 million for the executive branch, and $28 million for the Supreme Court — plus a $30 million boost for members of Congress in an account to reimburse local law enforcement.
But some members are looking for more funding, and Johnson forecast another stand-alone funding measure in October.
“But of course, we have many more people serving here than in these other branches, and so we’ll have to address that, probably in another measure when we return in October,” Johnson said.
The bill also includes a funding fix for the District of Columbia after an omission in a March CR left the nation’s capital with a $1 billion funding shortfall.
Democrats have bashed the Republican bill, over both process and content. They’ve criticized GOP leaders for heeding Trump’s request to craft a partisan bill, largely without Democratic input. And they’ve hammered the substance, saying the CR will gut a spectrum of federal health care programs and erode health coverage for millions of Americans.
“Donald Trump and the Republican Party have launched an all-out assault on health care in this country,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said shortly before the vote. “It’s unacceptable, unconscionable, un-American. And Democrats are not going to stand for it at all.”
A major sticking point between the parties pertains to rescissions, an obscure tool allowing the administration to shuffle or withhold funds already approved by Congress for specific purposes. Democrats have howled that Trump has abused his power by ignoring congressional intent and clawing back spending that was approved on a bipartisan basis, and they sought specific language in the CR designed to force the administration to spend funds as Congress dictates — language rejected by Republican leaders.
Another point of partisan contention relates to ObamaCare tax credits, which were created in 2010 and expanded by the Biden administration during the COVID-19 pandemic. That subsidy expansion is scheduled to expire at the end of the year, and Democrats — joined by some Republicans — want to extend it at least through the midterm elections. If Congress doesn’t act, the average out-of-pocket premium for patients enrolled in ObamaCare marketplace plans would jump by 75 percent, according to KFF, the nonprofit health care policy group.
GOP leaders have been open to addressing the issue, but they want to do it later in the year, noting the subsidies don’t expire until Jan. 1. Democrats have rejected that timeline, saying there’s an urgency to extend the tax credits sooner, because ObamaCare’s open enrollment window opens Nov. 1. Patients faced with higher rates next year might opt to buy lesser coverage, or no coverage at all, if Congress doesn’t act fast, they say.
