The House voted 217-213 Tuesday to pass the Republicans’ continuing resolution that would avert a partial government shutdown that was set to begin Friday. The bill will now go to the Senate, where its prospects remain uncertain.
The GOP-backed CR passed the House along party lines with the exception of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who remained the only Republican in opposition. All Democrats voted against it, except Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine.
Now, the CR will face an even greater test in the Senate, where Republicans will have to win over the votes of at least seven Democrats or independents in order to bring the bill to the floor.
The continuing resolution bill came out of political necessity, as the Republican effort to agree on a budget reconciliation bill.
President Donald Trump called on Congress to vote on the stopgap spending bill.
“The budget from last YEAR is still not done. We are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill (‘CR’) to the end of September. Let’s get it done!” he wrote on Truth Social on Feb. 27.
Trump’s call for a stopgap measure to provide funding to the government comes as the narrow Republican majorities in Congress face the difficult task of agreeing on a budget resolution.
The effort to pass a CR through Sept. 30 was complicated by Democratic demands that Republicans promise Trump would cease his cost-cutting actions.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that she and her fellow Democrats would support the CR if guarantees were provided that Trump would not impound funding and would back off of Elon Musk’s anti-bureaucracy measures.
“The only person calling for a shutdown is Elon Musk. That would be very damaging to our country,” she said. “We are asking for our Republican colleagues to assure us—to give us, you know, the ability to know, when we pass bills, they’re going to be followed by this White House. There is a lot of ways to do that, and we’re looking at all of them.”
But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ruled that out early on, telling reporters late last month, “I’m really hopeful that they’ll back off of those outrageous demands, because it’s unprecedented and, I think, probably unconstitutional. And it’s not anything we’ll be a part of.”
Another speed bump came with Massie’s decision to vote against the bill on the grounds that it would fund programs that the fledgling Department of Government Efficiency has worked to defund.
Trump came out guns blazing against Massie, writing on Truth Social that the Kentucky lawmaker would face a party primary challenge.
“Thomas Massie is a GRANDSTANDER, and the Great People of Kentucky are going to be watching a very interesting Primary in the not too distant future!”
The day of the vote, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., signaled to the press his strong opposition to the legislation.
“We are not just a no; we are a hard no,” Jeffries said.
Asked whether any Democrats would vote for the continuing resolution, he replied, “The overwhelming majority of House Democrats are already a publicly declared ‘no,’ and we’ll see where we land.”
After the bill passed the House, fiscally conservative Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., explained his vote in favor of it in a statement.
“Since I’ve been here, this is the first time that actual cuts have been made, and we have reduced the size of government,” he said. “I voted to keep the government open so that President Trump, his Cabinet, and my colleagues and I can continue down the path of limited government.”
Golden, the only Democrat to vote for the bill, also justified his decision, writing on X, “This CR is not perfect, but a shutdown would be worse. Even a brief shutdown would introduce even more chaos and uncertainty at a time when our country can ill-afford it.”
