House passes spending bill to avert shutdown, prompting GOP revolt
The House on Friday passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September and avert a partial shutdown at the this weekend, setting off a GOP revolt that threatened Speaker Mike Johnson's hold on his job.
In a 286-134 vote that came down to the wire as leaders scrounged for the twothirds majority needed for passage, Democrats rallied to provide the support to overcome a furious swell of opposition by conservative Republicans.
Infuriated by the painstakingly negotiated bipartisan legislation to keep funding flowing for government agencies including the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, the hard right balked, and as the vote was still ongoing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia began the process of calling for a vote to oust Johnson.
Greene told reporters on the House steps minutes after the vote that she would not seek an immediate vote on his removal but had begun the process as a “warning” because his actions were a “betrayal.”
“This was our leverage,” Greene said of spending legislation. “This is our chance to secure the border and he didn't do it. And now this funding bill passed without the majority of the majority.”
Passage of the bill, just hours before today's 12:01 a.m. shutdown deadline, set off a sprint in the Senate to avert a lapse in funding. Senators began debate on the legislation Friday afternoon, but it remained unclear whether they would agree to speed it along to passage and send it to President Joe Biden's desk before midnight.
Federal budget officials, before a potential brief shutdown earlier this month, had said they were not expecting any disruption if funding lapsed briefly over the weekend. But Sen. Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., the majority leader, urged lawmakers to allow swift approval of the spending package.
“Let's finish the job today,” he said on the Senate floor.
The 1,012-page legislation, which lumped six spending bills into one package, faced an uphill climb in the House after ultraconservatives revolted over the measure. They delivered a series of incensed speeches from the floor that accused Johnson of negotiating legislation that amounted to an “atrocious attack on the American people,” as Greene put it.
No other Republican has said publicly that they would support ousting Johnson, and Democrats have signaled in recent weeks that they might be inclined to help protect him should he face a GOP threat to his post.
But the bill's passage came at a steep political price for Johnson, who was forced to violate an unwritten but sacrosanct rule among House Republicans that Greene alluded to against bringing up legislation that cannot draw support from a majority of their members. Just 101 Republicans, fewer than half, supported it.
That left it to Democrats to again supply the bulk of the votes to push the bill through the House.
“Once again, it's going to be House Democrats that carry necessary legislation for the American people to the finish line,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, told reporters at the Capitol before the vote.