(Dec 21): The House passed funding to keep the US government operating until mid-March just hours before a midnight shutdown deadline, capping off a tumultuous two days in which two earlier plans pursued by Speaker Mike Johnson collapsed.
The 366-to-34 House vote on Friday evening sends the legislation to the Senate, where Republicans Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said they expect the stopgap to pass in the evening. President Joe Biden will sign the measure into law, according to a White House statement.
The US government moved ahead with shutdown preparations on Friday, notifying federal workers earlier in the day they might be furloughed, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. While key services such as law enforcement, air traffic control and airport screening would continue during a shutdown, the workers would temporarily go without pay.
The late turmoil over a short-term spending package that had been expected to be relatively free of drama vividly demonstrated both US President-elect Donald Trump’s power over fellow Republicans and its limits.
Republican lawmakers quickly abandoned a bipartisan deal Johnson had carefully negotiated after Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk attacked it in social media posts on Wednesday. But then a new funding package tailored to meet Trump’s demand that the national debt limit be waived or raised before the president-elect takes office failed when 38 Republican conservatives refused to go along.
Along with keeping open the government, the funding package includes more than US$100 billion (RM450.70 billion) in aid for natural disaster victims and farmers.
Musk publicly backed the funding package as the House began voting.
“The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances,” Musk said on his social media platform X. “It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces.”
Johnson said on his way into the chamber to vote that he had a “great” conversation with Musk shortly beforehand.
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee