POLITICS
Congress GOP Unites to Pass Bill, Avoid Govt Shutdown Saturday
The Republican-controlled Congress looked set to move ahead this week to keep the government funded and avert a partial shutdown beginning on Saturday, as Washington is rocked by President Donald Trump’s rapid moves to slash federal agencies.
Hardline members of the fractious 218-214 House Republican majority — who over the past year repeatedly bucked Speaker Mike Johnson’s plans — have signaled support for the bill.
Johnson has said he plans a procedural vote on the measure on Monday and aims for passage on Tuesday, with supporters arguing that the House must clear it to move on to Trump’s agenda of sweeping tax cuts and stepped-up spending on immigration enforcement and the military.
Trump has voiced support for the bill.
Multiple Senate Democrats —who could block the bill thanks to the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster rule but have long bemoaned government shutdowns as needless chaos — have said they would support it rather than further destabilize the government at a time when Trump adviser Elon Musk has ousted more than 100,000 federal workers.
The bill covers discretionary spending, functions like law enforcement and air traffic control, and represents about a quarter of a roughly $6.75 trillion federal budget, which also includes spending for the Social Security retirement program and more than $1 trillion per year on interest payments on the government’s growing $36 trillion debt.
It would increase defense spending by about $6 billion while decreasing non-defense spending by about $13 billion, according to House Republican leadership aides. It would also continue a freeze of $20 billion in funding for the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service previously included in a December stopgap bill.
Trump’s support for the measure has tipped the balance, and several of their number emerged from a White House meeting last week saying they were inclined to support the bill.
The group’s chair, Representative Andy Harris of Maryland, said doing so amounted to support for Trump.
“I am firmly 100% in his corner,” Harris told reporters.
Similarly, Representative Victoria Spartz, an Indiana conservative who nearly blocked the House last month from passing its budget blueprint for the Trump tax agenda, signaled her support.
Trump, in a response to questions from reporters on Sunday, said that while a shutdown could happen, he remains optimistic the bill will get passed.
