House Republicans pulled off a near party-line vote on Tuesday to pass their controversial funding bill to curb the looming government shutdown, shipping it off to the Senate, where it still will face an uphill battle to pass.
The Trump-backed bill passed 217 to 213, with the Kentucky representative Thomas Massie casting the sole Republican “no” vote, joining all almost all House Democrats who had come out hard against it for slashing social programs and granting the Trump administration broader federal powers. The Democrat Jared Golden of Maine joined Republicans in backing the measure.
The stopgap bill, revealed by House Republican leadership over the weekend, would fund the government through September and carves $13bn from non-defense spending while adding $6bn to military budgets and preserving a $20bn IRS funding freeze – priorities embraced by Donald Trump but denounced by Democrats as an assault on vulnerable Americans.
The vice-president, JD Vance, in a Tuesday huddle with Republicans on the Hill said the blame would fall squarely on the Republicans should they fail to pass the measure, according to Politico.
The House heads to recess later this week, leaving lawmakers in the Senate with a take-it-or-leave it scenario.
The bill’s priorities align closely with Trump’s agenda, particularly its provisions that could grant the administration broader authority to redirect funds between programs – a power Democrats fear could allow significant reshaping of federal priorities without congressional approval.
House Republicans were rushing to pass the bill before Thursday, when they would then hand the measure off to the Senate before heading home for a week-and-a-half long recess.
Still, the Senate presents another hurdle, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority but need 60 votes to pass the legislation. At least eight Democratic senators would need to cross party lines for the bill to advance, assuming all Republican senators except Rand Paul, from Kentucky, who is expected to oppose it, vote in favor.
That’s a hard sell for the Democrats, who are facing intense pressure from within their party and constituency to resist Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s unilateral cuts to federal agencies, which have eliminated more than 100,000 jobs.
And unlike their House counterparts, Senate Democrats appear divided on the measure. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania indicated potential support, stating that a shutdown would be “chaos” and that he would “never vote for chaos”.
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon also said he was reluctant to vote against it, saying: “Shutdowns are a bad idea. I’m not a shutdown guy.”
However, other Democratic senators, including Michigan’s Elissa Slotkin, are not supporting the bill and are demanding assurances that “the money is spent the way Congress intends” before lending their support.
