The House voted 222-209 Wednesday to approve a stopgap spending bill that will fund the government until Jan. 30 with a loose promise from the GOP that Congress will negotiate on healthcare once the government reopens.
The continuing resolution (CR), alongside a three-bill spending package, headed to President Donald Trump’s desk shortly after the House passed the bill. The White House indicated Trump’s support for the bill in a statement by the Executive Office of the President expressing support, and Trump signed the bill late Wednesday.
Six House Democrats voted to pass the bill, while two Republicans voted against the bill. The Republican lawmakers were Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Gregory Stuebe (Fla.). The Democratic lawmakers were Reps. Jared Golden (Maine), Adam Gray (Calif.), Don Davis (N.C.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Thomas Suozzi (N.Y.) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.).
Now that the bill is signed into law, government operations including the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the Office of Environmental Management and the Office of Nuclear Energy, along with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission can return to work. For shipbuilding, the CR also allows for just over $1 billion in spending flexibility for the Navy to ensure funds are in place to continue construction efforts for the Virginia-class submarine.
In the House, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), a member of the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee whose district abuts the Hanford plant, said the shutdown has resulted in “thousands of employee furloughs,” which include 80% of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s federal workforce.
“As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, the responsibility of funding the federal government is one I take very seriously,” Newhouse said on the House floor Wednesday. “I encourage all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this deal. Vote to end this unnecessary shutdown, and help us get back to the business of hard-working Americans across this country.”
Meanwhile, Appropriations committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) disagreed.
“You cannot expect Democrats to go along with any bipartisan funding deal if that agreement can be undone with a party line vote,” DeLauro said on the House floor. “Congress must assert its authority over the power of the purse. I encourage my colleagues to vote no.”
The compromise measure was unveiled and then advanced by the Senate on Sunday, a record 40 days into the shutdown, as a group of moderate Democrats and one Independent detailed the bipartisan framework which would guarantee backpay for workers furloughed during the funding impasse and sets a goal to vote in December on legislation to address expiring health care subsidies. The Senate then passed the bill Monday, giving the House 36 hours notice to return to Washington and vote themselves.
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), who has Nevada National Security Site in her state, was one of the flipped votes.
“For the last 40 days, I’ve been fighting tooth and nail to hold President [Donald] Trump and my Republican colleagues accountable and make sure Congress takes action to prevent a massive spike in health care costs for millions of hardworking families who will be financially devastated by these increases,” Rosen said in a statement online Monday. Unfortunately, she added, Republicans are “weaponizing their power in alarming ways to inflict unimaginable pain and suffering on working people.”
While the bill includes the three annual spending bills for agriculture, military construction and veteran affairs, and the legislative branch, the bill does not include a guaranteed extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits expiring Jan. 1, the main reason Democrats cited for refusing to vote for the initial package.
Along with Rosen and her fellow Senator from Nevada Catherine Cortez Masto, the five Democrats who joined Republicans on the vote are Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), John Fetterman (D-Penn.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.). Independent Sen. Angus King (Maine) also voted for the CR. King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman have been voting to open the government since the government first shut down, but Rosen and the other four joined to get to the supermajority needed.
The group of Democrats is banking on a future vote to extend the health care credits since “Republicans have made clear that they will not address health care as part of shutdown talks,” according to a statement by Shaheen on website X Sunday. She added Trump, Senate majority leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) “all said they are willing to find a way of extending these tax credits.”
“This agreement gives Democrats control of the Senate floor—at a time when Republicans control every level of power—on one of our top legislative priorities: Extending the enhanced premium tax credits to make health care more affordable for millions of Americans,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a member of the Armed Services and Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.
Rosen agreed, adding, “let me be clear: I will keep fighting like hell to ensure we force Republicans to get this done. Nevadans and all Americans deserve access to affordable health care, and Senate Republicans need to work with us in a bipartisan way before the next deadline.”
However, the move was met with backlash from fellow Democrats.
“I’m no great fan of the ACA,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on website X Sunday with a video of him chastising the Democratic Senators that voted with Republicans. “But — at minimum — we cannot allow Republicans to destroy our already-broken system by doubling insurance premiums for 20 million Americans.”