House passes Trump-backed plan to avert government shutdown

The House passed a short-term federal funding bill backed by President Donald Trump on Friday morning, paving the way for averting a government shutdown if the Senate follows suit.

The legislation is aimed at keeping the government funded at current levels through Nov. 21 with a measure known as a continuing resolution (CR), designed to give House and Senate appropriators more time to strike a deal on fiscal 2026 federal spending.

It passed mostly along party lines in a 217-212 vote. Two Republicans, Reps. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the measure. Just one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine., voted in favor. 

Fiscal 2025 is slated to end on Sept. 30, and Congress risks a partial shutdown if the CR does not make it to Trump's desk for a signature by then.

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In addition to keeping the government open until just before Thanksgiving, the legislation also includes an added $30 million to boost lawmaker security through a mutual aid fund for Capitol law enforcement and local police.

That decision was made as concerns over political violence have skyrocketed in recent months, including after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah last week.

The CR also honors a White House request for an additional $58 million in combined security funding for the judicial and executive branches, as well as $1 billion allocated for Washington, D.C.'s budget after Congress repealed that sum earlier this year.

A shutdown could be politically costly for both Republicans and Democrats.

Democratic leaders had threatened for days to oppose the bill, infuriated over being left out of CR negotiations and demanding increased funding for healthcare subsidies.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was criticizing the CR as recently as Friday morning, less than an hour before the vote.

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"Today, there's a choice before every single member of the House of Representatives: will we stand up for the healthcare of the American people, or will we bend the knee to Donald Trump and his continued efforts to gut healthcare for everyday Americans?" Jeffries asked.

"We're voting no on a partisan Republican spending bill, and we'll continue to defend the healthcare of the American people."

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had precious little wiggle room going into the vote, affording to lose only two Republicans if all Democrats turned against it.

But in the Senate, where at least several Democratic votes will be needed to meet the 60-vote threshold to advance the legislation, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is under significant pressure from his left flank to buck the GOP-led bill.

Schumer angered progressives in March when he cast a key vote to help avert a government shutdown with another Republican-led bill.

Republicans, meanwhile, have been readying to place the blame on a potential shutdown squarely on Democrats' shoulders.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday evening, "House Republicans are taking a very important Vote to pass a CLEAN TEMPORARY FUNDING BILL. The Leader of the Democrats, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, wants to shut the Government down."

"Republicans want the Government to stay open. Every House Republican should UNIFY, and VOTE YES!" Trump wrote.

Democrats released their own alternative CR plan this week, but Johnson told Fox News' "Special Report" that it was "filled with partisan wish lists and poison pills and demands."

The Senate is expected to consider both versions and could take a vote as early as Friday.