Government stopgap funding passes House; may stop in Senate

The House of Representatives passed a short-term spending bill out of the chamber on Friday morning in a 217-212 vote. The measure would extend the government’s current spending authority through Nov. 21. Without some sort of spending authorization, some government offices will close their doors by Oct. 1.

The bill aims to keep the government afloat past its Sept. 31 deadline when its current appropriations will run dry. It also buys roughly two months for Republicans to keep working on their spending legislation for 2026.

The Senate will vote on the measure later today.

Will the bill bridge the funding problem? Although the spending bill cleared the House, it faces long odds in the Senate and is expected to fail. Republicans need at least the support of seven Democratic senators to clear the 60-vote threshold required to advance legislation over the threat of a filibuster. Republicans hold 53 seats in the chamber. That support looks unlikely as Democratic lawmakers in both chambers have opposed a spending extension without also including some sort of provision that would reel in spending cuts enacted under the Trump administration.

Democrats want to claw back funding for Medicaid and broker a deal for COVID-era premium tax credits passed as an addition to the Affordable Care Act, according to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Dig deeper: Struggles over passing government spending on time—and though the regular process—has been a decades-long saga. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., originally took the gavel back in October 2023 with the promise to get the job done. So far, it still hasn’t happened, but many lawmakers believe this could be the year Republicans avoid some sort of omnibus package. Here’s what they’ve told me about their expectations.