US House Passes Stopgap Bill to Prevent Government Shutdown

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Facts

  • The US House of Representatives passed Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) short-term, clean continuing resolution, 336 to 95, on Tuesday to keep funding flowing into early next year and prevent a looming government shutdown.1
  • The required supermajority threshold was easily cleared as 209 Democrats and 127 Republicans joined to approve the legislation under special expedited procedures, overcoming the opposition of 93 Republicans — including those in the House Freedom Caucus — and two Democrats who were against it.2
  • The stopgap measure now heads to Senate where it's expected to pass later this week. Then, Pres. Joe Biden will have to sign the bill into law before the federal government runs out of funding on Friday.3
  • Under the proposal, Congress will have to green-light four appropriations bills dealing with agriculture, energy, housing, and transportation, as well as veterans programs until Jan. 19. The remaining eight spending bills, including for defense, would have to be worked out by Feb. 2.4
  • Though the House has passed seven of its twelve spending bills so far, it's unclear whether the chamber can pass any of the remaining five. The Agriculture bill was defeated on the floor, and both the Financial Services and Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development bills were withdrawn before a final vote due to anticipated rejection.5
  • House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) announced that no further votes on appropriations bills would be expected until Nov. 28, following a failed procedural vote on Wednesday that blocked the consideration of legislation funding Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies, and a separate Iran-related bill.6

Sources: 1Business Insider, 2The New York Times, 3BBC News, 4New York Post, 5Roll Call and 6The Hill.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by MSNBC. As infighting within the House GOP conference intensifies even after the promotion of Speaker Mike Johnson, Democrats have had to save the day once again by rallying behind this Republican bill in a bid to prevent a disruptive government shutdown. If Johnson doesn't want to end up like his predecessor Kevin McCarthy, he must realize that he has to be thankful to his Democratic colleagues and negotiate with them.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by PJ Media. Though Speaker Mike Johnson has succeeded in his first big challenge, he simply can't rely on help from the Democrats. It's obvious that they will do nothing to help a Republican politically even if that move would be good for the country — and McCarthy is the latest proof of that. That said, Johnson is still in his honeymoon phase with his GOP colleagues and has strong conservative credentials.

Predictions