House passes GOP funding bill in 217-212 vote, teeing up shutdown fight in Senate

The House on Friday passed a Republican measure to keep the government funded until Nov. 21, teeing up a fight in the Senate over the GOP plan to avoid a shutdown.

SEE ALSO: House to vote on bill to fund the government and avoid shutdown

The short-term funding bill passed the House in a 217 to 212 vote, with one Democrat voting in favor and two Republicans in opposition. Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Victoria Spartz of Indiana voted against the bill, while Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine supported it. 

The measure faces serious headwinds in the upper chamber, where 60 votes are required to advance a funding bill. With a 53-seat majority, Republicans will need to earn the support of at least seven Democrats to move the bill forward. At this point, Senate Democrats appear nearly united in their opposition, with most citing Republicans' unwillingness to negotiate over Democratic priorities, notably health care.

The Senate is expected to vote on the House measure on Friday, as well as Democrats' own proposal. Both votes are expected to fail, leaving lawmakers without a clear path forward to avoid a funding lapse at the end of the month. Both chambers are currently scheduled to be in recess until Sept. 29. 

"Republicans know that this partisan, reckless, dirty spending bill is dead on arrival in the United States Senate, and yet Republicans continue to refuse to even discuss protecting the health care of the American people," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said on the floor before the vote.

Earlier this week, House GOP leaders unveiled their bill, which would extend current spending levels for seven weeks. The legislation also funds additional security for lawmakers in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination, to the tune of $30 million for Congress and $58 million for the executive and judicial branches. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Friday that the House could pass additional security funding in a standalone bill next month.

Democrats have proposed a counteroffer to the funding bill that would keep the government open for a month and provide more than $320 million in security funds. But it would also permanently extend enhanced tax credits under the Affordable Care Act that expire at the end of the year, roll back Medicaid cuts in President Trump's "big, beautiful bill," and restore funding for public broadcasters that was rescinded earlier this year. 

All are nonstarters with Republicans, who say those provisions do not belong in a short-term funding bill.

"This is what my friends on the other side asked for — a clean bill. No partisan riders, no tricks, no things. And give it to us for a short period," said Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican. "You got exactly what you asked for."

Though Democrats often support measures to keep the government funded, the party is under intense pressure to stand up to Republicans and the White House. During the last funding fight in March, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer allowed Republicans to move ahead with their spending bill, a move that earned him severe criticism by members of his own party. Many Democrats argued it would have been better to allow the government to shut down than to go along with Republicans.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, told Punchbowl News on Thursday that he believes that Republicans would bear the brunt of the blame for a shutdown this time around, and that Democrats' position is "quite strong."

"We believe the American people will understand that they are causing a shutdown, again, by not being [bipartisan], by not wanting to do anything on health care at all, and by Trump," he said.

Democratic leaders have urged their Republican counterparts to negotiate with them on a funding plan. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, and Johnson suggested there's no need, since Democrats regularly support "clean" continuing resolutions to keep the government funded.

"Chuck Schumer's counteroffer is not a serious one," Johnson told reporters Friday. "He knows these are not negotiable items. … We were very careful to put no partisan measures in this. There's no poison pills. None of that."