House passes Republicans’ short-term government funding bill to avert shutdown

(WASHINGTON) — The House passed the Republicans’ short-term government funding bill on Friday ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to avert a shutdown.

The final tally was 217-212. Ultimately, all but two Republicans supported the President Donald Trump-backed spending bill with Reps. Thomas Massie and Victoria Spartz voting no.

Nearly all Democrats who were present voted against the measure, though Rep. Jared Golden of Maine voted in favor.

The funding plan proposes $30 million in additional member security over a more than seven-week stretch — giving each member of Congress around $7,500 each week to spend on security — more than double their own congressional salary. The package also includes $58 million to meet the Trump administration’s request for supplemental funding for the executive and judicial branches.

That funding supplants a pilot funding program that lawmakers had utilized for member security in the wake of the shooting targeting state lawmakers in Minnesota over the summer.

The funding bill now heads to the Senate where its fate is uncertain as Democratic support is necessary for passage — a challenge given that it requires at least seven Democratic votes to reach 60 votes for passage.

Speaker Mike Johnson said that “the ball is in Chuck Schumer’s court” to avoid a government shutdown.

“I hope he does the right thing. I hope he does not choose to shut the government down and inflict pain unnecessarily on the American people,” Johnson told reporters Friday following the House vote.

Senate and House Democrats had unveiled a counter funding proposal that would only extend government funding until Oct. 31 and include health care-related proposals like rolling back Medicaid cuts in Trump’s megabill that passed earlier this year. This plan is a non-starter with Republicans who control majorities in both chambers.

Johnson said Friday that the Democratic counter proposal is “full of poison pills” and “partisan demands.”

Asked if he’s open to meeting with Schumer or Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries before the shutdown deadline, Johnson said, “I am always open to meeting with anybody to get our work done here. But there wasn’t really much to discuss with Chuck Schumer, because he decided and announced a while back that he was not going to go along for a clean short term.”

Ahead of the vote, Democrats signaled they would vote to shut down the government if Republicans didn’t cave to Democratic demands to restore cuts to Medicaid and extend Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.

Johnson slammed Democrats for the move.

“It’s just very unfortunate the Democrats are trying to play partisan games when we’re in good faith trying to fund the government,” Johnson told reporters as he arrived at the Capitol on Thursday.

For his part, Trump urged House Republicans to support the “clean” funding bill Thursday afternoon.

“Every House Republican should UNIFY, and VOTE YES!” Trump posted to his social media platform. He also repeated his claim that Schumer and Democratic lawmakers want a government shutdown.

Earlier this week, Jeffries spoke out against the GOP’s plan.

“We will not support a partisan spending bill that Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people that continues to gut health care,” Jeffries told reporters. “No one who is following what Republicans have done to rip away health care of the American people can reasonably suggest that responsible legislators should do anything other than push back aggressively to protect the health care of the American people.”