The House pushed through a stopgap measure on Tuesday that extends funding for the federal government until December.
The House voted 220-205 to pass the funding patch, with six Democrats — Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), and Kathy Castor (D-FL) — voting to support the stopgap measure, and one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), voting “no.”
The measure extends funding until Dec. 4, allowing Republicans to avoid a government shutdown ahead of the November midterm elections. The passage of the continuing resolution marks a significant victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), as government shutdowns are usually politically costly for the party in power.
The funding patch also includes a provision to provide “death gratuity” payments of $174,000 to the “heirs at law” of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. David Scott.
Congress has seen two record-breaking government shutdowns since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term: a 43-day full shutdown ended last November, and a 76-day partial shutdown that ended in April.
Government funding is not set to lapse until Sept. 30, but time is dwindling to pass all 12 appropriations bills ahead of the deadline, with the House set to leave Washington for a monthlong August recess on Friday.
Democrats largely opposed the measure, arguing that the stopgap measure does not include language to nix funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, as the agencies were not funded through the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill as part of an agreement to end the record-long partial government shutdown.
In a joint statement from Democratic leadership ahead of the vote, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), and Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said the resolution “gives the Trump administration even more power over the federal budget and fails to block funding for Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine.”
“Their my-way-or-the-highway approach has consistently failed to address the high cost of living or meet the needs of the American people,” the statement said. “This continuing resolution is a premature and desperate attempt by Republicans to abdicate their responsibility to govern while there are still several months left to negotiate a bipartisan agreement. We will be voting No.”
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) dismissed Democratic arguments against the funding patch earlier Tuesday, saying, “When you’re told you got to be against something, you have to make up a reason. I know a made-up reason versus a real reason.”
Cole argued that the measure will be used to avoid a shutdown and move negotiations forward to fund the government through the next fiscal year.
“We have to move,” Cole said. “We’re moving now. We want to make sure we don’t shut down the government. The right thing to do is to get a CR in place and continue to negotiate. We’re willing to negotiate.”
But the House’s funding patch will likely not be taken up in the Senate, as the upper chamber is working on its own bipartisan funding resolution that includes requests from the White House.
GOP SPENDING BILL INCLUDES $174,000 DEATH PAYOUT FOR FAMILIES OF LINDSEY GRAHAM AND DAVID SCOTT
Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Tuesday that he intends to bring a government funding patch to the Senate floor before the upper chamber leaves on Aug. 7 for its August recess.
Thune told reporters that because the House-passed funding bill does not have the funding requests from the White House, a Senate resolution to extend funding would probably be the “more likely vehicle in the end.”