The House of Representatives approved a government funding bill on Friday evening, averting a partial shutdown just ahead of the holiday season. However, uncertainty lingers over the Senate’s timeline for considering the measure, leaving the possibility of a funding lapse unresolved.
The bill passed with a decisive 366-34 vote, concluding two days of intense negotiations. Earlier, President-elect Donald Trump and incoming Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk had criticized the initial proposal, calling it overly burdensome.
Support for the revised bill was strong among Republicans, with only 34 voting against it. Meanwhile, all Democrats either supported the measure or abstained, with just one member voting “present.”
The passage followed a tense setback on Thursday when at least 38 House Republicans opposed a similar version of the bill. By Friday afternoon, Speaker Mike Johnson emerged from marathon discussions to declare, “a unified Republican conference.”
“We will not have a government shutdown,” Johnson assured reporters. “We will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, disaster victims across the country, and ensure that military personnel and essential workers relying on federal paychecks are supported over the holidays.”
The approved 118-page bill is a streamlined version of its original 1,547-page proposal. It maintains current government funding levels through March 14, 2025, while allocating $100 billion for disaster relief and extending agricultural subsidies under the “farm bill” for another year.
Additional provisions include $25 million for the U.S. Marshals Service and Supreme Court security, as well as $3 million to the Department of Agriculture to oversee molasses inspections at U.S. ports. The bill also excluded contentious items such as a proposed 4% congressional pay raise, stricter regulations on pharmacy benefit managers, and a ban on AI-generated non-consensual pornography.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who opposed Thursday’s bill, reopened negotiations with Speaker Johnson to finalize the legislation. “The provisions were sufficient,” Jeffries said, praising the decision to reject Trump’s call to eliminate the federal debt ceiling, a frequent source of congressional gridlock.
Musk expressed support for the compromise, tweeting, “The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances. It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court.”
Among the eliminated items was funding for the renovation of Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington, D.C. Democrats had unanimously opposed Thursday’s version of the bill, which would have included a provision suspending the U.S. debt ceiling until January 2027. Trump had advocated for abolishing the debt ceiling entirely, stating, “It doesn’t mean anything, except psychologically.”
The White House criticized Republicans for stalling the initial bill, with President Joe Biden urging Congress to act decisively. On Truth Social, Trump reiterated his stance, stating, “Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal.”
In a side agreement, House Republicans pledged to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion in the next Congress via budget reconciliation while cutting $2.5 trillion in federal spending. This approach would bypass the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster requirement.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) suggested breaking the funding package into separate bills but claimed the idea was abandoned after GOP leaders engaged with Democrats. “Johnson flipped his decision after the meeting with [Hakeem] Jeffries,” Massie commented on X, announcing he would vote against the deal and predicting a “reckoning” in the next Congress.
Elon Musk stirred further tension by asking, “So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” This prompted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to fire back, suggesting campaign finance reform to curb the influence of billionaires in policymaking.
Navigating these complexities, Speaker Johnson faced intense pressure from both his party and Democratic colleagues. “He was juggling all that while being hit with asteroids launched by Elon Musk,” remarked a senior Democratic aide.
Despite internal divisions, Johnson maintained his position as Speaker, with both GOP and Democratic lawmakers rejecting efforts to unseat him earlier this year.
Johnson needs to go!