The continuing resolution passed with 366 yea votes and 34 nays. This blog is now closed.
Addressing reporters following the House Republicans’ meeting before today’s midnight deadline to avert a government shutdown, House speaker Mike Johnson vowed: “We will not have a government shutdown.”
Johnson said:
We have a unified Republican conference. There’s a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward. I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet … I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown.”
Well, folks, we made it through another hectic Friday on Capitol Hill as the House of Representatives struggled to get a spending bill passed. That bill is now with the Senate, which will have to pass it before a midnight EST deadline.
Here’s a summary of how it all unfolded, plus some other bits from the day in politics:
The House passed a spending bill hours before the deadline for a government shutdown. The continuing resolution passed with 366 yea votes and 34 nays.
House Republicans proposed government funding legislation that will require a two-thirds majority to pass the chamber, and does not include an increase to the debt ceiling, Punchbowl News reports. That meant the bill will need at least some Democratic votes to reach the Senate.
JD Vance and Russ Vought, an author of Project 2025 whom Donald Trump nominated to lead a powerful White House office, were scheduled to meet this morning with lawmakers in the rightwing Freedom Caucus, Punchbowl News reports.
Donald Trump, warned the EU that it will face trade tariffs on its exports to the US unless its member states buy more American oil and gas.
Donald Trump said that if a shutdown happens, ‘let it begin now’. In an early Friday morning post on his Truth Social social media platform, Trump said: “Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
House speaker Mike Johnson says that he was in “constant contact” with Donald Trump as the House worked to vote on a spending bill. During a post-vote press conference, Johnson said that Trump is “happy about this outcome as well”.
He also emphasized that this vote was a necessary step toward getting Americans the aid that they need, especially after a devastating hurricane season, telling reporters:
This was a necessary step to bridge the gap to put us into that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final spending decisions for 2025. We also in this bill took care of Americans who desperately needed and deserved the assistance … We are excited about this outcome. We are grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing, and having gotten this down now as the last order of business for the year, we’re set up for a big and important new start in January.
.
Here is a breakdown of how the vote on the House spending bill went down:
196 Democrats voted to pass the bill
170 Republicans voted to pass the bill
34 Republicans rejected the bill
The debt ceiling was not raised despite Donald Trump’s demand for the cap to increase. The bill is now headed to the Senate, which has until midnight to pass the spending bill.
The House has passed a spending bill, averting a government shutdown. The continuing resolution passed with 366 yea votes and 34 nays.
As we await the result of the House vote, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, announced that Joe Biden supports the proposed legislation. In a statement released on Friday, Jean-Pierre said:
A government shutdown heading into the holidays would mean service members and air traffic controllers go to work without pay, essential government services for hardworking Americans would be paused, and economic disruption would occur.
Following an order by President-elect Trump, yesterday Republicans walked away from a bipartisan deal and threatened to shut down the government at the 11th hour in order to pave the way to provide tax breaks for billionaires. This revised legislation does not do that.
While it does not include everything we sought, it includes disaster relief that the President requested for the communities recovering from the storm, eliminates the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires, and would ensure that the government can continue to operate at full capacity. President Biden supports moving this legislation forward and ensuring that the vital services the government provides for hardworking Americans – from issuing Social Security checks to processing benefits for veterans – can continue as well as to grant assistance for communities that were impacted by devastating hurricanes.
A vote on the house’s new continuing resolution is under way. If it passes, the government will avoid a shutdown.
Chip Roy, a Republic representative from Texas, announced that he will be voting no on the recently introduced bill to keep the government funded.
In a post on X, Roy said:
On this third “funding” CR – progress having been made on future cuts/debt ceiling notwithstanding – I must vote no. $110bb unpaid-for, extension of food stamps with no reform, gimmicks to pay for health extenders, breaks 72 hour rule … More of the same.
The House is expected to vote on the continuing resolution (CR) in the next few minutes, according to a schedule released by Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip.
Here is the tentative schedule for today’s vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government until a full appropriations bill is passed, per Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip. Based on this schedule, it should be coming in less than 45 minutes.
This schedule is in eastern standard time:
At approximately 4:45 p.m., the House will reconvene and debate H.R.__ – American Relief Act, 2025.
At approximately 5:00 – 5:30 p.m., the House will take a vote.
Next vote predicted: at approximately 5:00 – 5:30 p.m., on passage of the CR.
The newly introduced government spending bill has been released. Officials are expected to vote on it in the next hour, according to Jake Sherman with Punchbowl News. Clocking in at 118 pages, the bill is a continuing resolution (CR) that would allow the government to fund itself before the full appropriations have been finalized.
You can read the full text here.
Mitch McConnell is in his final days as the top Republican in the Senate, and used his last speech on the floor while in the job of minority leader to warn against failing to fund the government.
“I don’t care to count how many time I’ve reminded our colleagues, and our House counterparts, how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it. Recent history doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for interpretation on that one. When you try to use normal government function as a bargaining chip, you pay the political price,” McConnell said.
John Thune of South Dakota will take over the Senate Republican leadership post next year, when the party also assumes the majority in the chamber. McConnell, 82, will continue representing Kentucky in the chamber through 2026. He has not said if he will seek another six-year term in the Senate.
House Republicans intend to propose government funding legislation that will require a two-thirds majority to pass the chamber, and does not include an increase to the debt ceiling, Punchbowl News reports.
That means the bill will need at least some Democratic votes in order to reach the Senate.
The GOP has not released the funding bill’s text, nor said how it will handle passing disaster relief or aid to farmers – both priorities for many lawmakers.
Congress is flirting with a federal government shutdown right as millions of Americans are hitting the road and heading to the airport ahead of Christmas, and the US Travel Association warns that a shortfall in funding could have significant consequences for the holiday season.
“A prolonged government shutdown threatens holiday travel disruptions that Americans won’t tolerate,” the industry group’s president and CEO, Geoff Freeman, said in a statement.
“It’s hard to see how anyone in Congress wins if they force [Transportation Security Administration] workers, air traffic controllers, and other essential employees to work without pay during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.”
The US economy could suffer “severe economic costs” of $1bn in damage each week that government operations are disrupted, the association warned.
He also warned of economic consequences if Congress fails to approve funds to pay for relief in parts of the country recently afflicted by wildfires and hurricanes:
Research shows that delaying disaster relief funding until 2025 could push recovery efforts into 2026 or beyond. Americans that are suffering deserve better from their elected officials. It’s unconscionable that Congress would head home for the holidays while leaving communities devastated by disasters out in the cold.
Asked by a reporter whether the House would vote this afternoon on legislation to keep the government open, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, replied: “Very likely, yes.”
Johnson made very brief comments to the press as he walked between meetings, where he also described what will be in the legislation that the GOP is negotiating:
We will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays.
Addressing reporters following the House Republicans’ meeting before today’s midnight deadline to avert a government shutdown, House speaker Mike Johnson vowed: “We will not have a government shutdown.”
Johnson said:
We have a unified Republican conference. There’s a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward. I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet … I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown.”
Florida’s Democratic representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost criticized the GOP’s reported plans to cut spending next year, saying:
There is no way to cut $2.5tn in spending unless you make cuts to social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
He went on to add:
My parent’s social security check should not be cut to pay for President Elon Musk’s massive billionaire tax cuts.
Senator-elect Jim Banks of Indiana spoke to reporters after attending a House conference, Politico’s Jordain Carney reports.
“I think they are a long ways away from deciding anything,” Banks said, adding that he is looking forward to being a senator.
