A Republican-led short-term spending bill to avert a government shutdown ahead of a deadline later this week cleared a key procedural rule vote Tuesday afternoon, with House GOP leadership confident it will have the votes for final passage.
The rule, which dictates the particulars of debate time and amendment process for a bill, passed the House 216 to 214, mostly along party lines. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the sole Republican who voted against advancing the measure. The continuing resolution, which mostly freezes spending levels until Sept. 30, will go to a final passage vote at 4 p.m.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) must rely on his Republican conference to stay united to pass the continuing resolution, as Democrats have made it clear they will be leaving the GOP to its own devices on this spending bill. The legislation, made public over the weekend, raises defense spending by about $8 billion and lowers nondefense spending by about $13 billion. Funding expires on Friday.
With a razor-thin House majority coupled with vacancies, Johnson can only afford to lose one vote to pass the continuing resolution with just Republican support. Massie is a confirmed “no” vote, and several other GOP lawmakers, such as Reps. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Rich McCormick (R-GA), are holdouts as of Tuesday morning.
Johnson, for his part, is not worried about the continuing resolution’s ability to pass on the floor.
“We will have the votes,” the speaker said during the GOP’s weekly press conference Tuesday morning. “We’re going to pass the CR. We can do it on our own.”
The speaker, as well as other Republicans, has blasted Democrats for their messaging on the bill.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said Monday that the continuing resolution is “not something we could ever support” and accused the bill of “[ripping] away life-sustaining healthcare and retirement benefits from everyday Americans.”
“They either have an issue with reading comprehension, or they are attempting to run one of the most shameful misinformation campaigns that we’ve ever seen in our lives,” Johnson said. “Every single word of that is a lie. Every single — they just made it up. They didn’t read the bill. … There are no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. Zero.”
Whether Johnson will require Democratic votes remains to be seen. This week, President Donald Trump called various members to urge their support of the continuing resolution, and he met with hard-line Republicans of the Freedom Caucus last week.
Vice President JD Vance attended the Republicans’ weekly conference meeting on Tuesday. He urged lawmakers to vote for the spending deal and noted that averting a government shutdown is critical to maintaining Trump’s agenda on border security, a member in the room told the Washington Examiner.
Vance also appeared to warn that any delay in funding the government could stall recent efforts by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, two members confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Clearing the rule vote is a victory for Johnson, as hard-liners have voted against the procedural in the past to protest GOP leaders’ decision.
But most hard-line conservatives surprisingly are supporting the spending deal. Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD) said during a rare appearance at the GOP leadership press conference that HFC members are typically against continuing resolutions because they are “usually the first step to an omnibus bill.”
“This clearly is not,” Harris said, adding, “This is not your grandfather’s continuing resolution.”
Trump, who has inserted himself into House Republican affairs multiple times to influence votes on previous spending deals and other controversial bills, appears to be the driving force for many hard-liners’ support.
This was expected, given how he inserted himself into House Republican affairs multiple times as a presidential candidate and influenced votes on previous spending deals and other controversial bills.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) said he’s “barely” for the continuing resolution.
“The ‘barely’ is Donald Trump. I mean, he is the difference maker,” Burlison said. “I would never support this language, but I do trust Donald Trump.”
He said “absolutely” when Fox News reporter Chad Pergram confirmed, “It’s not Mike Johnson, it’s not the whip [Emmer],” responsible for his “yes” vote. Burlison met with Trump last week and held conversations with White House team members “to get more of the details,” he added.
“He’s not let me down. I think that he is a man of his word, and so I believe him when he says he’s going to get it done,” Burlison said, with “it” referring to the deficit and balancing the budget.
On the other side, members of Democratic leadership strongly advocated against the continuing resolution during their weekly caucus meeting on Tuesday, and they are whipping members to vote “no” on the measure, a House Democrat in the room confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Two Democratic members told the Washington Examiner that they believe the caucus is on the same page heading into the final passage vote.
“Vibes are we are united, but Rs probably have the votes,” one Democrat said.
Eyes are on swing-district members, however, to see whether they break from the party and vote for the continuing resolution. Conservative Democrats such as Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) have often strayed from leadership requests and voted for spending bills or contentious GOP legislation in the past.
But one House Democrat familiar with swing-district members’ thinking told the Washington Examiner they had not heard of any “yes” votes on the continuing resolution.
“I haven’t met one yet, but perhaps there is someone out there, but I’m unaware of it,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), who represents a purple district and scraped by through to reelection last year, said of possible detractors.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS RETREAT GIVES CAUCUS FIRST GLIMPSE OF FUTURE LEADERSHIP — AND CHANCE FOR A RESET
Republicans have been pushing for days that Democrats should be blamed for any government shutdown. Johnson said he wished the continuing resolution could be a “unanimous vote” but didn’t anticipate much Democratic support for the measure.
“Democrats ought to do the responsible thing, follow their own advice in every previous scenario, and keep the government open,” the speaker said.
Hailey Bullis contributed to this report