House Passes Stopgap Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown

On Tuesday, House lawmakers approved a temporary spending bill designed to avert a government shutdown ahead of the midterm elections.

This short-term funding measure will keep federal operations running until December 4, extending well beyond the September 30 funding deadline and the November 3 midterms.

The continuing resolution cleared the House with a vote of 2020-205.

Six Democrats joined Republicans in support of the bill: Reps. Cathy Castor (D-Fla.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Don Davis (D-N.C.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), and Gabe Vazquez (D).

Meanwhile, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the lone Republican to oppose it.

The bill now moves to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to schedule a vote before the Senate’s month-long recess in August.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) criticized Democrats for their opposition to the short-term funding extension, suggesting that they might see a government shutdown as politically beneficial as the fall elections approach.

“Today, House Republicans took the responsible step of passing a clean, short-term continuing resolution to fund the government through the November election. Sadly, and as expected, 204 House Democrats voted against this bill,” Johnson stated.

He further remarked, “Given that Democrats have already been part of two of the longest government shutdowns in U.S. history, it’s clear they don’t care about the suffering this could cause for the American people or the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who would face working without pay.” He noted that while there’s still time before year-end, Republicans sense Democratic intentions in the run-up to these significant midterm elections.

“They seem to think a damaging government shutdown would favor them politically. We hope they reconsider before things escalate, but if they don’t, the fallout will fall squarely on Democrats,” he added.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the leading Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, voiced her opposition to the continuing resolution, arguing it fails to retain provisions from the previous funding negotiations that restricted resources for the Border Patrol.

DeLauro expressed her frustration, saying, “This bill does not honor that agreement. It essentially allows the Trump administration to utilize the billions allocated in this bill for the Border Patrol without implementing any meaningful reforms.” She emphasized that this stance has been a consistent boundary for Democrats over months.