House OK’s spending bill, sparking revolt
GOP’s far right threatens to vote speaker out
WASHINGTON — The House on Friday passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September and avert a partial shutdown at the end of the week, 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 two-thirds 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, Representative 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 Saturday’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 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 Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and 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,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, told reporters at the Capitol before the vote.
Republicans won the inclusion of a number of provisions in the spending package, including funding for 2,000 new Border Patrol agents, additional detention beds run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a provision cutting off aid to the main UN agency that provides assistance to Palestinians. It also increases funding for technology at the southern border by about 25 percent, while cutting funding for the State Department and foreign aid programs by roughly 6 percent.
“House Republicans achieved conservative policy wins, rejected extreme Democrat proposals and imposed substantial cuts while significantly strengthening national defense,” Johnson said in a statement. “The process was also an important step in breaking the omnibus muscle memory and represents the best achievable outcome in a divided government.”
Yet conservatives said the legislation was insufficiently conservative, citing the $1.2 trillion price tag.
They were particularly infuriated to see $200 million in fresh funding for the new FBI headquarters in Maryland, as well as earmarked funding requested by senators for LGBTQ+ centers.
“We got rid of all our poison riders, and Schumer wouldn’t agree to take away their poisonous earmarks,” said Representative Robert Aderholt, Republican of Alabama and chair of the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing labor and health programs. Aderholt opposed the legislation.
Before the vote Friday morning, Representative Andy Biggs, Republican of Arizona, had fumed that the bill was “chockfull of crap” and urged Johnson to be more combative in negotiations with Democrats.
“Doggone it, fight!” Biggs said. “This is capitulation; this is surrender.”
Democrats secured a combined $1 billion in new funding for federal child care and education programs, and a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research.
“This legislation does not have everything either side may have wanted,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “But I am satisfied that many of the extreme cuts and the policies proposed by House Republicans were rejected.”
Standing on the House floor minutes later, Biggs ruefully agreed with DeLauro’s assessment.
“And yet somehow Republicans are going to vote for that?” he said. “That’s outrageous. She’s right, though: She got the spending. She killed the riders.”