House squeaks through short-term funding plan, punts shutdown fight to the Senate

The House narrowly passed a Republican stopgap spending bill Friday, setting up a high-stakes showdown in the Senate just days before a potential government shutdown.

The measure — a “clean” continuing resolution that keeps agencies running at current levels through Nov. 21 — cleared 217–212. Two GOP holdouts, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Victoria Spartz of Indiana, voted no; Democrat Jared Golden of Maine crossed the aisle to vote yes.

Now comes the hard part. The bill needs 60 votes to advance in the Senate. With Republicans holding 53 seats, they’ll need at least seven Democrats — and so far, Senate Democrats look almost uniformly opposed, blasting the House plan as a take-it-or-leave-it offer that ignores their priorities, especially on health care. Both chambers are slated to be out until Sept. 29, and the Senate is expected to hold test votes on the House bill and a Democratic alternative as early as Friday. Aides in both parties expect both to fail, leaving no obvious path to avert a lapse in funding at month’s end.

Democrats are framing the fight as Republican brinkmanship.

“This partisan, reckless, dirty spending bill is dead on arrival in the United States Senate,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said before the vote, accusing the GOP of refusing to even discuss protecting health care provisions.

Asked whether he’d negotiate with Democrats if the government shuts down, Speaker Mike Johnson fired back: “Heck no,” so long as Democrats remain dug in.

What’s in the House bill? Beyond keeping the lights on for seven weeks, it adds security money in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — $30 million to bolster protection for members of Congress and $58 million for the executive and judicial branches. Johnson said the House could move a standalone security package next month as well. The bill also includes a technical fix that frees up $1 billion for Washington, DC, after an earlier clawback.

Democrats pitched a shorter counteroffer — keep the government open for a month, plus more than $320 million for security — but tied it to a series of policy asks Republicans call non-starters: permanently extending enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits due to expire this year, reversing Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s health legislation, and restoring funding for public broadcasting.

“This is what my friends on the other side asked for — a clean bill,” Rules Chair Tom Cole argued. “No partisan riders, no tricks.”

Trump, meanwhile, urged Republicans to unify behind the House plan, calling it a “CLEAN TEMPORARY FUNDING BILL” and accusing Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of angling for a shutdown. Schumer has his own calculus. Burned by progressive anger when he helped advance a GOP stopgap in March, he’s under pressure to hold the line — and insists Republicans will be blamed if the government closes.

“We believe the American people will understand that they are causing a shutdown, again, by not being bipartisan … and by Trump,” he said.

The calendar is unforgiving. Unless both chambers pass the same bill and the president signs it before Oct. 1, parts of the government will close, mandatory services will continue without pay for many workers, and the political blame game will shift into overdrive. For now, the House has thrown the hot potato across the Capitol — and the Senate has to decide whether to catch it or let it explode.

CBS News, FOX News, CNN, and NBC News contributed to this report.