Senate approves short-term bill to avoid government shutdown, teeing up House vote

Washington — The Senate approved a stopgap measure to keep the government funded through the beginning of March, teeing up a vote in the House to avoid a partial shutdown that would otherwise take effect Saturday morning. 

In a bipartisan 77 to 18 vote, the upper chamber approved the continuing resolution to keep the government funded on Thursday afternoon, sending it to the House for approval. 

“We have good news for America — there will not be a shutdown on Friday,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote. “It’s precisely what Americans want to see — both sides working together and governing responsibly. No chaos, no spectacle, no shutdown.”

The House is expected to take up the measure later in the evening. House leaders announced earlier in the day that votes were no longer expected on Friday due to weather conditions, setting up a tight timeline to approve the stopgap measure and send it to the president’s desk.

The legislation would extend funding at current levels for some government agencies through March 1, while others will be extended through March 8. The two-step deadline is an extension of the current deadline originally conceived by House conservatives to avoid a massive omnibus spending bill to fund the government. But many of those members on the Republican conference’s right flank are expected to oppose the stopgap measure to keep the government funded. 

Some House conservatives met with Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday to attempt to add a border security amendment to the continuing resolution, briefly throwing its passage on Thursday into question with a maneuver that would have required the bill go to committee. But Johnson’s team quickly chimed in, saying that the plan had not changed, and that the House will vote Thursday night. 

Facing opposition from hard right House members, Johnson is once again in a bind, likely without enough support within his razor-thin GOP majority to approve a funding measure with only Republican votes, or maneuver the chamber through the typical procedural votes to tee it up for final passage. Accordingly, Johnson will again need to rely on Democrats to keep the government funded, so he’s expected to bring up the bill under a move known as a suspension of the rules, which will require the backing of two thirds of the chamber.

The Louisiana Republican faced a nearly identical situation in November. That decision came just weeks after he was elected House speaker to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted for doing the same thing — working across the aisle to keep the government open. But for Johnson, just days into his speakership, enough good will seemed to exist among his conference to hold onto his gavel.

Whether the same holds true this time around remains to be seen. 

After a GOP conference meeting on Wednesday, Rep. Dan Bishop, a North Carolina Republican, told reporters that there’s dissatisfaction with the continuing resolution, but he noted that “I haven’t seen the solution to come forward from anybody.”

Another House Republican, Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, said that when the continuing resolution comes from the Senate, the House will “be ready.”

“We’ll be ready and it’s going to have to be bipartisan and it’s going to have to be on suspension, I think we know all of those things,” Armstrong said, adding that many Republicans would back the move because “we understand the realities of divided government.”

Alejandro Alvarez and Jaala Brown contributed reporting.