WASHINGTON — The House on Friday passed a short-term spending bill to extend government funding for seven weeks and avoid a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1, but prospects looked dimmer in the Senate, where the parties show no signs of budging.
The bill would generally continue existing funding levels through Nov. 21. Democratic leaders are adamantly opposed and are threatening a government shutdown if Republicans don’t let them have a say on the measure, as some Democratic support will be needed in the Senate to get a bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
The vote was 217-212. U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine’s 2nd District was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans on Friday, just as he was on the last continuing resolution vote in March. In an interview, he cast his vote as being against a government shutdown, saying his differences with the majority party didn’t justify that outcome.
“They have the right to push forward their agenda, and the American people are going to decide if they like what they’ve done, right?” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana had few votes to spare as he sought to persuade fellow Republicans to vote for the funding patch, something many in his conference have routinely opposed in past budget fights. This time, his members see a chance to portray the Democrats as responsible for a shutdown.
“We were very careful. We put no partisan measures in this. There’s no poison pills. None of that,” Johnson said leading up to the vote.
In a sign the vote could be close, Trump weighed in, urging House Republicans to pass the bill and put the burden on Democrats to oppose it. GOP leaders often need Trump’s help to win over holdouts on legislation.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said that in opposing the continuing resolution, his party was working to protect the health care of the American people. With Republicans controlling the White House and both branches of Congress, he said, “Republicans will own a government shutdown. Period. Full stop.”
The House vote now sends the bill to the Senate where Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said the Senate will vote on the measure along with a dueling Democratic proposal. Neither look likely to get the 60 votes required to pass legislation in the upper chamber with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, vowing to oppose the House proposal.
The Senate Democratic proposal would extend enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, plus reverse Medicaid cuts that were included in Republicans’ big tax breaks and spending cuts bill enacted earlier this year. Both Collins and Golden have supported extending the subsidies in some form, but the Republican version does not do so.
Golden, who is cosponsoring a bipartisan plan to extend the subsidies for a year, said there is time to deal with that later this year. He said it would be “reasonable” to revisit income standards that Republicans have said are too high when discussing the future of the program. But another member of Maine’s delegation saw things more urgently.
“There are some things we have to address. The health insurance, ACA, is going to hammer millions of people in the country, including in red states,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said in Washington. “To me, that can’t be put off.”
Story by Kevin Freking. BDN writer Michael Shepherd and Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
