House passes stopgap bill to avert government shutdown

The House on Wednesday approved a three-month government funding bill to avoid an end-of-the-month shutdown, sending the package to the Senate for consideration.

The chamber cleared the legislation — which would fund the government at current levels until Dec. 20 — in an 341-82 vote, including support from 209 Democrats and 132 Republicans. Eighty-two GOP lawmakers voted against the measure.

The Senate is expected to pass the stopgap Wednesday night then dispatch it to President Biden’s desk for his signature ahead of the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.

The legislation also includes $231 million in funding for the U.S. Secret Service after the pair of assassination attempts against former President Trump.

Passage of the package, which came just before lawmakers left Washington until after the November elections, caps off this month’s funding fight in the House. It included a failed attempt by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to pass a partisan stopgap, a push by former President Trump to shut down the government over the absence of a voting bill, and bipartisan negotiations that led to the final product.

The bill passed under suspension of the rules, requiring two-thirds support. Johnson had to abandon plans to bring it up through a regular procedural process due to opposition from some in the right flank that threatened to block it.

This year’s battle over government funding, however, is not over: The three-month stopgap sets the stage for another shutdown showdown in December, during the lame-duck period, when lawmakers will have to cobble together a spending bill to keep the lights on in Washington past the new deadline.

Johnson has vowed that the House will not approve a sprawling omnibus bill to avert a December shutdown, a statement that is welcome news for hardline conservatives who abhor the whole-of-government measures. But will be a difficult goal to achieve as he grapples with a razor-thin GOP majority, a Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, and pressure to fund the government and leave town ahead of the Christmas holiday.

DEVELOPING.