The House of Commons voted to proceed with the government's short-term funding extension. The bill now heads to President Biden's desk and must be signed by him by the evening of January 19th to avoid a partial government shutdown.
House leaders rushed the bill, known as a continuing resolution, to the floor Thursday afternoon, shortly after the Senate passed it 77-18.
The bill was brought to a vote on a suspension of rules. That means a procedural vote will be postponed, but final passage will require the support of two-thirds of House members rather than a simple majority.
The decision comes amid growing discontent within Speaker Mike Johnson's right wing over the passage of another CR. Johnson had previously vowed to “finish” the CR after passing it in November, but parliamentary leaders have given MPs more time to finalize a spending deal for fiscal year 2024. I agreed that I needed to give.
House and Senate announce bipartisan agreement on government funding as shutdown deadline approaches
House Speaker Mike Johnson brought the short-term CR to the House floor. (Photo provided by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Hours before the vote, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-VA) met with Rep. Johnson (R-LA) to persuade him to add the border security amendment to the CR.
Mr Good told reporters that Mr Johnson was “considering” whether the Senate was willing to fund the government to secure the border or because they didn't want to secure the border. “We will be forced to consider whether to deny funding to the government.” . ”
But Johnson quickly shut down the rumors. Mr. Goode's press secretary, Raj Shah, said X minutes after Mr. Goode spoke to reporters: “Plans have not changed. The House will vote tonight on a stop-gap measure to keep the government functioning.” Posted.
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House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good tried to persuade Prime Minister Johnson to attach border security amendments to CR (Getty Images)
The new CR will take Mr Johnson's “ladder” approach by keeping two separate funding deadlines in place, extending them from January 19 and February 2 to March 1 and March 8 respectively. will be maintained.
Prime Minister Johnson previously said his aim was to block Congress from passing an all-in-one “omnibus” spending bill, which is opposed by Republicans in both houses of Congress.
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Good and other members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus filed complaints about the CR bill earlier this week, but given the support from House Democrats and a sizable percentage of House Republicans, they are seeking to block its passage. He admitted there was little he could do.
Prime Minister Johnson is working on a spending deal with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
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Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) admitted on Fox News Digital that while he is an “optimist,” there is probably little conservatives can do to stop CR from passing.
“If he stops it, a lot of Democrats will vote for it. That's probably the right thing to say. But I'm certainly not going to vote for it,” he said.
