WASHINGTON − Congress passed a bipartisan spending bill to avert a government shutdown that would have left thousands of federal employees furloughed just days before the winter holidays.
The Senate voted 85 to 11 in favor at 12:38 a.m. Saturday.
On Friday evening, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson relied on Democratic support to pass the bill, overcoming resistance from hardline GOP representatives and multibillionaire Elon Musk who, with President-elect Donald Trump, helped kill the original bipartisan funding deal on Wednesday.
The House voted 366 to 34 to approve the measure. More Democrats than Republicans supported the stopgap bill, which required a two-thirds majority. All the “No” votes came from GOP holdouts. The bill appeared on a glide path to Senate approval early Saturday morning.
More:House passes bill to fund government after tense standoff facing holiday shutdown; Senate must still vote
On Thursday, the House rejected a deal backed by Trump that would have kept the government’s doors open, with dozens of Republicans joining with Democrats to sink it. That bill was a slimmed-down version of a bipartisan plan, known as continuing resolution, that Trump and his allies torpedoed earlier in the week.
Hours after the successful House vote, Trump hadn’t commented on its passage.
Keep up with the USA TODAY Network’s coverage.
Congress reached a bipartisan, last-minute agreement to keep the government running 38 minutes after a midnight deadline for a partial shutdown days before the end-of-year holidays and a month before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The Senate sent the spending package to President Joe Biden’s desk after midnight on Saturday by a vote of 85 to 11, hours after the House voted 366 to 34 to approve it. Biden is expected to sign it.
− Bart Jansen
Despite earlier assurances from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate blew a midnight deadline to avoid a government shutdown. A vote to fund the government was expected before dawn Saturday.
The government appeared to be in line for a brief shutdown that would have a minimal effect on services.
− Dan Morrison
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said shortly before 10:30 p.m. that the Senate would consider four amendments to the Social Security Fairness Act before voting on that bill. It is expected to pass.
Then Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, will speak on the floor. Afterward, the Senate will have up to 30 minutes of debate and then vote on the government funding extension.
Schumer says the funding extension is set to pass “tonight, before the midnight deadline,” averting a government shutdown.
− Riley Beggin
House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris, R-Md., released a statement Friday night following the vote to extend government funding saying he may not be able to support House Speaker Mike Johnson for speaker in January.
“Since President Trump’s historic election to bring down spending, deficits and inflation, the ‘Republican’-led House has INITIATED $300 billion in unpaid for new spending, without even ATTEMPTING offsets to prevent skyrocketing the deficit and debt,” he said.
“Future generations deserve better. I am now undecided on what House leadership should look like in the 119th Congress.”
− Riley Beggin
With less than three hours to go before the midnight funding deadline, the Senate was preparing to vote on the House bill to stave off a federal government shutdown.
Earlier on Friday, the House voted by a two-thirds majority, with 34 Republicans opposed, to extend government funding to mid-March and approve disaster relief for hurricane-affected regions of the country.
Senators were debating the stopgap bill, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated it will pass.
− Dan Morrison
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was asked whether senators would vote before the midnight deadline for a government shutdown.
“We’re working through the amendment process right now,” Schumer told reporters about 7:30 p.m.
If the Senate amended the bill, the House would have to vote on it again. Biden is expected to sign if the Senate approves it. The public is unlikely to notice a brief lapse in government funding during a weekend.
− Bart Jansen
Incoming GOP Senate Whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the chamber plans to first tackle the Social Security Fairness Act tonight with several amendments. Then, senators will take up the spending bill passed by the House.
In exchange for agreeing to speed up Senate processes, the chamber will consider at least one amendment to the spending agreement from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Paul told reporters. That amendment is all but sure to fail.
It’s unclear exactly what time the spending agreement will pass the upper chamber, but at the moment, it’s on a glide path to do so. There may be a short shutdown if passage happens after midnight, with few consequences.
− Riley Beggin
After earlier suggesting Johnson’s spending bill catered too much to Democrats, Elon Musk softened his tone as it cruised to passage in the House − with more Democratic than Republican votes.
“The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances,” Musk said on X. “It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces.”
The measure awaits approval in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
− Dan Morrison
Following the vote, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. touted the passage of the government funding extension as a win for Democrats.Without Democratic help, the bill would not have passed the GOP-led House.“House Democrats have successfully fought for families, farmers, first responders, and the future of working class Americans,” he said.
−Riley Beggin
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters he is confident he will win the speakership on Jan. 3.
“Yeah, I think we will,” he said when asked by The Hill whether he would hold the speakership on the first ballot.
His response comes after a shaky few days that tested his leadership, after he pulled out of a bipartisan funding deal when President-elect Donald Trump and multibillionaire Elon Musk attacked it. A Trump-backed replacement bill crashed and burned Thursday night after Democrats and 34 Republicans voted against it.
A new stopgap bill on Friday won Democratic support after Johnson removed a provision backed by Trump that would have increased the amount of money the government can borrow.
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., said on Thursday that the pre-holiday drama surrounding the funding deal will be a turning point for Johnson.
“This is a defining moment for his career as speaker,” said McCormick. “What he does and how he handles this, how he handles our conference…will define who he is, if he’s a serious leader, and if he’s going to survive this leadership vote quite frankly,” McCormick said.
− Sudiksha Kochi
More:Thomas Massie says he won’t back Mike Johnson for House Speaker
House lawmakers reached a bipartisan, last-minute agreement to keep government running while facing a midnight deadline for a partial shutdown days before the end-of-year holidays and a month before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office.
But the Senate finished voting for the day before the House vote, so it was unclear when the spending package would reach President Joe Biden’s desk.
Biden is expected to sign it if the Senate agrees. The public is unlikely to notice a brief lapse in government funding if the Senate votes Saturday because most action to implement it wouldn’t begin during a weekend.
The House voted 366 to 34 to approve the measure. The vote came after Elon Musk, a top adviser to Trump and funder of his campaign, questioned whether it was a Republican or Democratic bill. His criticism earlier this week of another version of the stopgap scuttled it.
− Bart Jansen
House Democrats came out of their closed door meeting content with the provisions of the new bill.“The sense in the room was that the smart thing to do here is to just take the win. Declare victory and go home. A lot of good stuff in this keeps the government open. Elon Musk’s lack of influence was demonstrated,” said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., touted some of the wins in the bill including disaster aid.House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ message in the meeting, Bera said, was that Democrats “stuck together.”− Sudiksha Kochi
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said his colleagues will evaluate Speaker Mike Johnson’s new temporary spending measure before deciding whether to vote in favor.
“What needed to come out of the bill has come out of the bill,” he said, referring to a provision in a failed Thursday bill, supported by President-elect Donald Trump, to raise the debt ceiling.
More than 30 Republicans joined the House Democrats in rejecting that bill, in a vote that required a two-thirds majority.
− Sudiksha Kochi
More:What is the debt ceiling? What has Trump said about the US debt limit? What to know.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, wrote to House and Senate leaders on Friday asking if Elon Musk had sabotaged the original bipartisan temporary spending measure over a provision restricting U.S. investments in China.
The letter was first reported by Punchbowl News.
Musk has significant investments in China. Tesla, which he founded, cranked out nearly one million electric cars at its Shanghai Gigafactory each year, according to CNN.
More:Vivek Ramaswamy once called Elon Musk a ‘circus monkey.’ Now they’re DOGE partners
“It is extremely alarming that House Republican leadership, at the urging of an unelected billionaire, scrapped a bipartisan, bicameral negotiated funding deal that included this provision to protect American jobs and critical capabilities,” DeLauro wrote.
Musk didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.
The letter was sent to House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
− Sudiksha Kochi
More:‘President-elect Musk’: Elon’s influence on display in government spending fight
House Republicans have a plan, but Elon Musk doesn’t like it.
He responded to a post from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., noting that House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to pursue a single-bill strategy to end the budget impasse after convincing Democrats to support the plan as well.
“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” Musk asked on X.
Musk’s opposition to the first bill tanked the agreement and prompted more than 24 hours of scrambling for an alternative that might stand a chance on the House floor, where Republicans have a narrow majority and need a two-thirds vote for passage before the shutdown deadline.
That means any bill that can pass will require House Democratic support, let alone in the Senate or the White House, which are both controlled by Democrats.
− Riley Beggin
The Senate is taking a backseat as the House scrambles to come up with a viable plan.
Amid the wait, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the podium for what will likely be his final address as the top Senate Republican. He is the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, and will step down from leadership at the beginning of next year.
“Folks come to Washington to do one of two things,” he said. “Either to make a point or to make a difference.”
More:A government shutdown could make Trump transition ‘chaotic’
“It’s usually not that hard to tell who is doing which, especially in situations like the one we’re in right now,” he continued in a barbed reference to the House’s shutdown cliffhanger.
“People who are here to make a difference recognize pretty quickly you never get everything you want, but often you can get quite a lot,” he said. “And the folks who prefer to make a point have a funny habit of reminding us out loud how poorly they understand that fact.”
− Riley Beggin
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas., waved off Trump’s Truth Social posts on Thursday that called him “weak and ineffective” and encouraged a primary challenge against the Texas conservative.
“It’s just politics. It’s rough and tumble… my life isn’t built around whether I have an election certificate,” Roy told reporters on Friday. “My life is built around winning for the American people, winning for my constituents. And I think we’ve done that here.”
Roy had attacked a temporary spending measure put forth by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Thursday, saying in a fiery speech on the House floor that he was “absolutely sickened.”
He was one of the 38 House Republicans who bucked Trump by joining Democrats to vote aginst the bill. − Sudiksha Kochi
More:Trump’s agenda in trouble? What the Republican revolt on spending bill tells us
House Republicans have a new plan.
They will try to pass the same bill as last night − which includes a government funding extension through March 14, disaster relief funding and farm aid − without the debt ceiling extension requested by President-elect Trump.
“Ultimately, we’re going to get this done one way or another,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., proposed a plan to pass each element of the bill individually. He expressed frustration with House Speaker Mike Johnson and pledged not to support him as Speaker next year.
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“He comes up with ideas that won’t work and then we just kind of wander around, trying to find a path forward, until he figures out what Hakeem will accept,” he said, referring to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the Democratic minority leader.
Jeffries told his members earlier today that Democrats were finally looped in on negotiations this morning. House Democrats are meeting shortly to discuss the plan.
But has Trump blessed the plan? “That’s what we’re working on right now,” said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.
− Riley Beggin
House Republicans are meeting behind closed doors to come up with a new approach to keep the government funded and open.
Meanwhile, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., chair of the House Democratic caucus, said Democrats are waiting while Republicans are “wrapped around the axle.”
“We’ll see what they put on the floor,” Aguilar said. “We want a bipartisan solution. We had a bipartisan solution, and that’s what they should do. That’s the easiest path forward.”
The original proposal, released by House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday, had support from both sides of the aisle but was shot down by Trump and allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
— Savannah Kuchar
There’s still time for Congress to pass a bill that averts a government shutdown, the White House said Friday as it waded into the dispute over the spending deal.
“We still believe there is still time for that to not happen, for Republicans to do the right thing, to hold up their part of the deal and move forward with a bipartisan agreement,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her first and only press briefing of the week.
She added: “Our focus is keeping the government open.”
President Joe Biden has largely taken a hands-off approach to negotiations and has not spoken out about a potential shutdown in public. He has spoken, however, with Democratic leaders in Congress, his press secretary said. She disclosed that he had calls with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Democrats from New York.
As for why Biden is staying out of it for now, she said that the dysfunction was caused by billionaire Elon Musk and president-elect Donald Trump and it was House Speaker Mike Johnson’s problem to solve.
“They need to fix it. It is their mess to fix,” Jean-Pierre said of Republicans.
The White House also said federal employees who could have their paychecks withheld were informed on Friday that a government shut down may be imminent.
“Agencies did start notifying their employees for — of their potential furlough today at noon,” Jean-Pierre said at her briefing.
She deferred to the Office of Management and Budget to address the specifics of the possible furloughs.
Federal employees who are deemed nonessential will be barred from working during a shut down and will not receive paychecks until a spending bill is passed and signed into law.
Military veterans concerned about their benefits and medical care don’t have to worry, as those payments and services will continue. Under a contingency plan the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs put out in January, veterans’ access to healthcare, other benefits and even memorial services won’t be impeded.
The VA completed an analysis early this year of how previous government shutdowns impacted the department, finding that some benefits and payments were delayed.
In order to prevent similar lapses if another government shutdown were to happen, the department revised its contingency plan in which it identified core functions and programs that would continue to operate with advance appropriations.
However, other services that veterans count on may be temporarily be unavailable, including some education and job training programs and support for veteran-owned businesses.
The contingency plan also found that the vast majority of VA employees, 96%, would be fully funded or required to report to work during a shutdown. That means, of the department’s approximately 458,000 employees, just about 18,000 of them could be furloughed, meaning they won’t work and won’t be paid.
— Eric Lagatta
House Republicans are meeting to discuss their third plan to keep the government open.
House leadership is suggesting they hold separate votes on the key components of the original agreement, or pass the same bill that failed last night without the debt ceiling proposal.
To address Trump’s debt ceiling demands, they’re proposing raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion in the first reconciliation package and cut $2.5 trillion in spending across the reconciliation process.
The situation remains highly fluid, and it’s unclear how much support either option will enjoy from GOP members.
– Riley Beggin
If the federal government shuts down Friday, U.S. border crossings will stay open and border agents will keep working through the holidays – without pay, at least temporarily. Nearly three-quarters of Homeland Security personnel are considered essential and would keep working, even if Congress fails to strike a compromise to pay the government’s bills.
Along the U.S. northern and southern borders, roughly 19,000 Border Patrol agents will be required to show up for work. The majority of agents patrol the vast U.S.-Mexico border region, staffing field stations, interior checkpoints and temporary holding facilities, as they work to intercept smugglers and migrants who cross illegally.
Another 25,000 U.S. customs officers would be required to work at some 300 land and air ports of entry. At land ports, officers process the tens of thousands of residents, workers and students who cross each day, as well as billions of dollars in trade. Customs officers are the “last line of defense” in intercepting illegal drugs like fentanyl, weapons and ammunition, smuggled migrants or agricultural products that can harm the U.S. food supply, said Gustavo “Gus” Sánchez, president of the local chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents customs officers.
CBP essential workers are bracing for a shutdown that could upend their finances and derail their holiday plans.
“We feel like pawns,” he said.
House Republicans have a tentative plan to put individual elements of the funding extension up for a vote as separate bills.
The bills will likely need to be approved by the House Rules Committee in order to be approved by a simple majority vote, teeing up a full House vote on the legislation tomorrow.
The bill is likely to be broken out by the funding extension to avoid a shutdown, $100 billion in disaster relief funding to help with hurricane cleanup and other priorities, and $10 billion aid to farmers struggling with climate and inflation pressures.
Lawmakers are still discussing a plan to handle raising the debt limit, working toward an agreement to raise the debt ceiling as a part of a reconciliation package next year — the procedural process Republicans plan to use to pass big swaths of President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
– Riley Beggin
Nearly 12 hours until Congress’ deadline to fund the government, Republicans are struggling to unify, even behind a bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump. Last night, 38 representatives voted against the continuing resolution along with 197 of their Democratic counterparts.
Some notable ‘no’s included Texas Rep. Chip Roy, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar.
Rep. Ralph Norman, S.C., who voted against the funding deal last night, told reporters today that he supports a new deal reached by the House GOP.
— Sam Woodward
It shouldn’t.
Funding to agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection would be on hold. However, the agents who you typically interact with at airports and seaports, and the controllers who oversee your flights are considered essential and will be working without pay during the shutdown.
Impacts on those agencies have more to do with things like hiring and training. All the crucial safety functions like inspections and air traffic control continue.
Consular operations in the U.S. and internationally will also continue normally “if there are sufficient fees” to support them, according to the most recent guidance from the State Department. “This includes passports, visas, and assisting U.S. citizens abroad.”
There could be economic repercussions, though. A government shutdown is estimated to cost the country’s travel economy as much as $140 million per day, according to an estimate from the U.S. Travel Association.
-Zach Wichter, Nathan Diller
If the federal government shuts down at midnight Friday, it will mark the fourth time during Donald Trump’s reign as leader of the GOP that a funding dispute closed the government’s doors.
The Republican president-elect’s decision to torpedo a short-term funding bill that would have kept the government running beyond his inauguration and through March has instead put it on the brink of another shutdown and triggered a sense of déjà vu among Americans who watched this show play out before.
During Trump’s first term, the government shut down three times, including a 35-day closure spanning the end of 2018 into early 2019 that remains the longest in U.S. history.
–Michael Collins
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., tells reporters that the House GOP has reached a funding deal that he supports, but declined to offer additional details.
He said the House Rules Committee will meet in around an hour to move the bill through the committee in an effort to avoid the two-thirds majority needed to pass it without a rule.
– Riley Beggin
Democrats are insisting they won’t budge on a government funding deal that went from a bipartisan agreement to a partisan slugfest just days before the shutdown deadline.Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she’s “ready to stay here through Christmas because we’re not going to let Elon Musk run the government.”“We had a bipartisan deal—we should stick to it,” she said in a statement.- Riley Beggin
President-elect Donald Trump encouraged lawmakers to hash out their differences over spending levels now, while Joe Biden is still president, so his administration carries the blame for the looming government shut down.
“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under “TRUMP.” This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!” he wrote on his social media platform.
A bipartisan deal that had been in the works earlier in the week was shunted after Trump, incoming Vice President JD Vance, R-Ohio, and billionaire Elon Musk pushed GOP lawmakers to reject it in a public pressure campaign.
Trump said Wednesday that lawmakers should increase the debt ceiling now, so it happens on his predecessor’s watch.
The White House has accused Republicans of playing politics with the spending legislation that must pass on Friday to avert a federal shutdown.
–Francesca Chambers
House Republicans ended yesterday with a landslide defeat for their slimmed-down funding extension with a debt ceiling increase.House Speaker Mike Johnson arrived at the Capitol a few minutes ago, telling reporters to expect another vote sometime this morning.“Y’all stay tuned, we’ve got a plan,” he said.There were few details available yet what that plan is. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote on X early Friday morning that they are “sticking with Trump’s plan” with no plan to “cut a deal with Dems.”Democrats still control the U.S. Senate and White House. They have insisted that they won’t accept the Republicans’ new plan and urged them to go back to the deal agreed upon earlier this week, which includes a funding extension, $100 billion in disaster relief, funding for farmers and many more policies.- Riley Beggin
During a government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal workers deemed nonessential would be furloughed, meaning they won’t work and won’t be paid.
Employees who are classified as essential for critical operations in defense, energy, agriculture and other sectors would continue to work without pay. However, under a 2019 law, all federal workers would be reimbursed for retroactive wages later.
Nearly 2 million federal workers are employed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
– Eric Lagatta
Holiday travel plans are unlikely to be disrupted.
Transportation Security Administration agents who operate security at airports, as well as air-traffic control workers would be required to work.
However, in past shutdowns some airports have struggled with absenteeism that forced some operations to be suspended. Additionally, the TSA would not be able to hire new airport security screeners during the busy holiday travel season.
– Eric Lagatta
During a government shutdown, some federal agencies continue their work because at least some of their workers are considered “essential” to continue activities such as air traffic control, border protection, law enforcement, in-hospital medical care, and power grid maintenance, notes the nonprofit, nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Among those agencies and programs that continue on because some of their mandatory spending is not subject to annual appropriations by Congress: Medicare, Medicaid and, yes, Social Security.
Social Security has “dedicated funding, so it’s outside of the budget process,” said Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. “All that money is there to paid (out). It doesn’t have to be appropriated. … You’re still going to get your checks.”
– Mike Snider
