WASHINGTON – After a raucous 48 hours that served as a preview of what President-elect Donald Trump’s second term might look like, the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday evening gave final approval to a stopgap spending bill that will keep the government open for several more months.
The short-term spending package, the third version of the bill expected to be released this week, will give Congress until mid-March to negotiate an agreement on a dozen year-round government funding and disaster relief measures worth about $100 billion.
It moved on 366 to 34 votes with one Democrat voting “present.” The bill now goes to the Senate, where leaders will likely try to pass it before the midnight funding deadline, though that would require the approval of all 100 lawmakers, or at least those still living on Capitol Hill as the holidays approach.
The legislation did not include any language raising or suspending the debt limit, rejecting Trump’s demand to address it. Congress and Trump will have to deal with this next year when they take control of the House, Senate and White House.
The 118-page bill will extend programs included in the five-year farm bill through September, giving the House and Senate more time to negotiate a deal even though they are already more than a year behind schedule.
The package would not prevent members of Congress from making their first cost-of-living salary adjustments since January 2009, increasing lawmakers’ salaries next year from $174,000 to a maximum of $180,600.
It does not include a provision considered earlier this week that would allow year-round sales of the E15 gasoline blend nationwide, which would benefit corn and biofuel growers.
During the House vote, the White House announced that President Joe Biden supports the modern legislation.
“While it doesn’t cover everything we were looking for, it does include the disaster relief the president requested for communities recovering from the hurricane, eliminates a fast-track to tax cuts for billionaires, and will ensure the government can continue to operate at full capacity.” wrote press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “President Biden supports moving forward with this legislation and ensuring that the essential services the government provides to hard-working Americans – from issuing Social Security checks to processing veterans’ benefits – can continue, as well as providing relief to communities affected by the devastating hurricanes.”
Appropriators argue
House Speaker Tom Cole, R-Okla., urged support of the bill during floor debate, saying it would avoid a partial government shutdown, provide disaster relief and send economic relief to farmers.
“Governance by continuing resolution is never ideal, but Congress has a responsibility to keep the government open and working for the American people,” Cole said. “The alternative, a government shutdown, would be devastating to our national defense and our voters and would be a grave mistake.”
Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, spoke out against the bill and criticized GOP negotiators for deviating from the original bipartisan version released Tuesday.
She dismissed billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, seemingly deciding everything as if he were an elected lawmaker.
“The United States Congress has descended into pandemonium,” DeLauro said. “That raises the question, who’s in charge?”
Trump and Musk object
Democrats and Republicans made a deal earlier this week to fund the government, provide disaster relief, expand the Farm Bill’s agriculture and nutrition programs, expand various health care programs, and complete dozens of other items. But Trump intervened, preventing GOP leaders in the House of Representatives from bringing the bill to an up or down vote.
Trump and Musk disagreed with some additional provisions of the original bill and Trump began pressuring lawmakers to address the debt ceiling issue now rather than during his second term.
Republicans in the House of Representatives tried to pass his first GOP-only interim bill on Thursday night, but failed on a 174-235 vote, with 38 GOP legislators voting against the bill. That bill included a two-year suspension of the debt limit, but that was removed from the version adopted Friday.
Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Friday before the vote that the GOP was united on its plan for the future.
“We have a united Republican Conference. There is unanimous agreement in the room that we must move on,” Johnson said after the 90-minute closed-door meeting. “I expect we will continue to do so. We will not have a government shutdown. We will also fulfill our obligations to our farmers, disaster victims across the country, and ensure that the military and essential services, and everyone who depends on the federal government for a paycheck, are paid during the holidays.”
A total of 34 House Republicans voted against the bill. No Democrats voted against the passage.
How closure works
Failure of the House and Senate to agree on some stopgap spending bill before midnight Friday would result in a loss of funding, possibly leading to a partial government shutdown just before the start of the holidays.
During a shutdown, vital government functions including the protection of life and property continue, although no federal employees will receive pay until the shutdown ends. This loss of income would also affect US soldiers.
“If there is to be a government shutdown, let it start now, under the Biden administration, not after January 20, under the slogan ‘TRUMP,'” the president-elect wrote on social media on Friday morning. “This is Biden’s problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”
In a separate post that appeared just after 1 a.m. EST, Trump doubled down on his insistence that any short-term spending bill would suspend the debt limit for another four years or eliminate the debt ceiling altogether.
“Congress must get rid of the absurd debt ceiling or perhaps extend it through 2029.” – Trump wrote. “We should never have reached an agreement without this. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is president.”
Last updated at 18:22, December 20, 2024
