Congress gave final approval Wednesday to a short-term spending bill aimed at averting a government shutdown ahead of the November election, sending the measure to President Biden but postponing a fight over bigger funding until the end of the year.
In two consecutive votes, members of both chambers overwhelmingly passed the bill to keep the federal government funded through December 20. The Senate vote was 78-18; all of the no votes were Republicans.
Biden is expected to sign the bill by a September 30 deadline.
“It’s a relief for the country that once again, with bipartisan cooperation, we were able to thwart the threat of a shutdown,” said Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York. “It took much longer than it should have, but Congress will get the job done tonight because House Republicans finally, finally chose to work with us.”
Less than two hours later, the House passed the bill by a vote of 341-82, with a majority of the Republican conference and all Democrats present voting in favor of passing the bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson again turned to Democrats to provide the majority of the votes after conservatives in his conference said they would not support the bill because it did not cut spending and did not include a measure to impose new citizenship requirements for voter registration.
He put the bill to a vote using a special procedure that requires a two-thirds majority of voters to avoid attempts by hardliners to block the bill.
“Governing by continuing resolution is not ideal,” said Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “Like most members of Congress, I would prefer to pass full-year individual appropriations bills as normal. Time is running out. A shutdown would be unacceptable, as it would be extremely damaging to our national security, critical government programs and the American people.”
The bill extends current funding levels through Dec. 20 and provides an additional $230 million for the Secret Service in the wake of the two assassination attempts on former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.
The two votes came after a brief but ultimately anticlimactic skirmish over government funding. Mr. Johnson had previously pushed for a long-term spending deal that included a bill to require registered voters to show proof of citizenship. Democrats rejected those demands, and some conservative members of the House joined them in rejecting the speaker’s proposal last week.
Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a leading conservative voice, said he opposes the short-term funding bill because it does not include the citizenship verification measure Johnson championed. He predicted that congressional leaders will try to force lawmakers in December on a spending bill that would bundle all 12 spending measures together, known as an omnibus bill.
“We’re going to have to spend a lot of our time now fighting this huge omnibus bill that’s going to be imposed on us over Christmas, and I intend to do that,” Roy said, adding: “We shouldn’t be in this situation.”
But with the November election looming, even those lawmakers who opposed the bill quickly voted, eager to leave Washington and get back to campaigning.
They effectively postponed what is expected to be an even fiercer fundraising battle just days before the December holidays.
The outcome of the election and which party controls the White House and Congress will also affect how the House and Senate approach spending issues after the election. Republicans in the Senate and some in the House have said they will seek to increase defense spending, while Democrats have vowed to fight for balance between domestic and defense spending.
This is the continuation of a long-running saga that has dogged Johnson.
Since taking control of the House nearly two years ago, he and his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, have often had to rely on Democrats for the majority of votes on legislation to avert a shutdown. Many conservative members of the House Republican Conference are fundamentally opposed to any bill that doesn’t mandate deep cuts to federal spending and routinely try to block such measures from even being considered.
Johnson on Tuesday called the bill, known as a continuing resolution, “a very limited, bare-bones continuing resolution that only does what is absolutely necessary.”
“Shutting down the government would be a political blunder,” he said. “I think everybody understands that, so we’re hoping this gets done quickly so that everybody can get back to their districts and get to work.”
