House approves plan to keep government open hours before deadline

A third attempt to pass a short-term spending bill passed on the House floor Friday evening. The last-minute vote averted a government shutdown that would have kicked in at midnight as the temporary funding Congress passed in September ran dry.

The spending package passed in a 366-34 vote. Thirty four Republicans voted against the bill. No Democrats opposed it.

What was in the bill? Like two other failed bills before it, Friday’s package would temporarily extend the government’s spending from Friday to March 14, 2025. It would provide a one-year extension to agriculture-related government programs commonly referred to as the Farm Bill. Additionally, it would provide $100 billion in disaster relief funding and extend some expiring health-related services.

Why had similar past attempts failed? For weeks, Democrats negotiated a very similar bill that included a wide range of provisions they were unlikely to secure in the incoming Trump administration. But Republicans balked when negotiators finally unveiled the 1,547-page bill on Tuesday evening, citing concerns that it was too big, too bulky, and contained too many non-spending-related provisions.

When U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., trashed the bill in favor of a slimmed-down version, Democrats cried foul. That version—the second iteration—failed in a 174-235 vote Thursday evening where all but three Democrats voted against the bill.

Democrats especially objected to the surprise, last-minute inclusion of a debt-ceiling suspension added at the request of President-elect Donald Trump. On Wednesday, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance put out a statement on behalf of the incoming administration, charging Republicans to either include a debt-ceiling extension or forgo a government funding extension altogether.

Thirty-eight Republicans also voted against the second package, frustrated that they were being asked to raise the nation’s borrowing limit without meaningful spending cuts.

What made leadership more confident about Friday’s vote? Looking to consolidate support among their own ranks as well as make the spending extension more palatable for Democrats, Republican leadership on Friday opted to exclude the debt ceiling extension altogether.

Although the move risks angering Trump, Republicans leaving the closed-door meeting where Speaker Johnson presented his plan told WORLD that change would make the bill more likely to succeed.

Ahead of Friday’s vote, Democratic members leaving a closed-door party meeting seemed to agree.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., told WORLD he would support the legislation now that what he characterized as the poison pill measures—referring to the debt ceiling extension—had been removed. Krishnamoorthi expressed concern that a Trump administration would use a debt cap raise to accommodate a larger national deficit brought on by tax cuts the administration plans to pass.

Now that the bill has passed the House, what happens next? The bill now heads to the Senate where it is also expected to pass. With no debt ceiling extension, the government’s limit on the amount it can borrow will kick back into effect on Jan. 2.

The debt ceiling has been suspended since the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

If the debt ceiling is reimposed, the Department of the Treasury can still continue to pay its obligations, despite being unable to borrow any more funds, through a process known as extraordinary measures. While the length of time the treasury can keep these measures in place varies depending on a variety of factors, the Treasury has shown an ability to reallocate funds and keep the government afloat for months even after running up against the cap. In 2023, the county hit its borrowing limit and continued to pay its obligations despite being unable to borrow more from January to June of that year.

Dig Deeper: Friday’s bill follows two other failed attempts. How did it get to this? Read my reporting on the last time Congress extended government funding—and set up this week’s spending fight.