House Passes Spending Bill Without Debt Limit Raise

After a tumultuous 48 hours and change, the House has voted in favor of a continuing resolution that funds the government until March.

The continuing resolution passed under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority of the lower chamber. With the Senate’s approval and President Joe Biden’s signature, the government shutdown scheduled to kick in at Friday’s end will be averted.

Beyond keeping the government open until March, the continuing resolution included $100 billion in disaster aid for damage caused by Hurricanes Milton and Helene. It will also provide $30 billion in economic aid for farmers and a one-year extension of the farm bill. The package does not address the debt limit that President-elect Donald Trump wanted to raise, punting the issue to the early part of the Trump administration.

Democrats were angered by House Speaker Mike Johnson’s inability to get his conference to go with the deal negotiated by congressional leadership. 

When Johnson unveiled the more than 1,500 page deal on Tuesday, conservative opposition, spearheaded by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, quickly tanked the deal. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance denounced the original spending bill in a statement Wednesday, saying it “would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney.” and

Democrats were happy to let Johnson and the House GOP squirm for all of Thursday. But on Friday, when the prospect of a shutdown became real, Democrats were forced into getting the funding package across the finish line.

Elon Musk praised Johnson’s action in a post on X Friday, writing “The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances. It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it, and then to President Joe Biden’s desk. The White House signaled support for the spending bill in a statement Friday night:

“While it does not include everything we sought, it includes disaster relief that the President requested for the communities recovering from the storm, eliminates the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires, and would ensure that the government can continue to operate at full capacity. President Biden supports moving this legislation forward and ensuring that the vital services the government provides for hardworking Americans – from issuing Social Security checks to processing benefits for veterans — can continue as well as to grant assistance for communities that were impacted by devastating hurricanes.”

After the vote, Johnson talked, in reference to spending bill, about “a necessary step to bridge the gap, to put us into that that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final decisions on spending for 2025,” reported “Good Morning America.”

“We also, in this bill, as you know, took care of Americans who desperately needed and deserve the assistance,” the speaker continued, adding, “We also took care of our farmers, many of whom were on the brink of collapse because of Bidenomics, frankly, because the inflationary cost of their inputs.”

The Lousiana Republican said Trump was pleased with the final bill. “He knew exactly what we were doing and why, and this is a good outcome for the country. I think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well,” he said.

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