House Republicans united on Tuesday to pass a federal funding bill backed by President Trump after weeks of uncertainty and threats of potential holdouts.
Every House Republican voted in favor of the bill with the exception of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), whose decision drew the ire of President Trump. Massie’s vote was cancelled out by Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), however, who joined all additional House Republicans by voting in favor. The bill ultimately passed by a final vote of 217 to 213.
The vote marked one of the few times over the past decade where Democrats near unanimously voted in favor of a government shutdown.
The legislation, a short-gap extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024 funding known as a continuing resolution (CR), will now head to the Senate. It must pass there and be signed into law by the end of the day on Friday, March 14 in order to avert a partial government shutdown.
Tuesday’s vote represents a massive victory for President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), as several House Republicans who have never voted for a continuing resolution opted to do so this time.
While speaking with Fox News, Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) contributed his decision to “barely” support the resolution to President Trump. “The ‘barely’ is Donald Trump,” Burlison said. “He is the difference maker. I would never support this language, but I do trust Donald Trump.” Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) was in a similar boat, telling reporters, “I’ll be the first guy to tell you I don’t like CRs. I’ve never voted for one.”
“But the Democrats aren’t going to help us. And the Democrats are just going to put any shutdown on the president, which obviously isn’t good for for the party,” the Florida lawmaker added. “So I think it’s important that we give the party, the president and the conference time to come up with a good budget.”
Speaker Johnson hailed the vote as a massive achievement for Republicans in an X post, adding that House Democrats opted to engage in “partisan politics.”
“For years, House Democrats have railed against government shutdowns, but they suddenly changed their tune when President Trump returned to office. Their falsehoods and misinformation campaigns are a desperate attempt to distract from their own failures,” Johnson wrote. “Despite these tactics, President Trump and Congressional Republicans will stop at nothing to deliver on the mandate given by the American people.”
The House speaker concluded his post by noting that Democrats will own a government shutdown if Senate members opt not to come through. “Now it’s decision time for Senate Democrats: cast a vote to keep the government open or be responsible for shutting it down,” Johnson said.
Despite passing in the house, the continuing resolution could still face an uphill battle in the Senate. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has already said that he will oppose the bill, meaning that Republicans will need to garner support from at least eight Democrats in order to avoid a shutdown.
The budget measure will provide roughly $4.5 trillion in tax cuts with a goal of $2 trillion in spending cuts. It will also allocate roughly $100 billion in additional funding on immigration enforcement and defense spending. It also requires the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in cuts to federal programs.
