The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a stopgap bill to avoid a partial government shutdown starting next week, even as large numbers of Republicans rebelled against his leadership for failing to deliver new federal spending cuts.
The measure, which passed the House of Representatives by a 341-82 margin, would maintain the government’s current level of about $1.2 trillion in annual discretionary funding through Dec. 20, avoiding the layoffs of thousands of federal workers and the shutdown of a wide range of government services just weeks before the Nov. 5 election.
House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to use a parliamentary maneuver to prevent the House Rules Committee from overcoming opposition from his own Republican Party, which has a 220-212 majority on the floor. All 82 votes against were cast by Republicans.
The bill now heads to the Democratic-controlled Senate, which will also vote on it Wednesday and send it to President Joe Biden for signing into law before current funding expires.
This is an unusually short timeframe for Congress, as its members have rushed back to their districts to campaign ahead of the election.
A significant number of House Republicans defied their leader and voted against the measure, after the party’s presidential candidate Donald Trump earlier spoke in favor of a shutdown unless controversial legislation making it illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, which is already illegal, was attached to the spending bill.
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