The House of Representatives voted 220 to 205 on Tuesday to extend funding for the government at existing levels through December 4.
Six Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill. The government is currently set to run out of money at the end of September, just before the midterm elections.
House Republican hardliners have lately been holding up legislation in a so far fruitless effort to pressure their Senate colleagues into passing President Trump’s election overhaul bill, the SAVE America Act. The legislation would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo ID when casting a ballot. After some speculation the government funding bill could be caught up in that fight, the lawmakers let it proceed without incident.
Democratic leaders opposed the funding extension, writing in a statement that the bill “fails to block funding for Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine.”
“Their my-way-or-the-highway approach has consistently failed to address the high cost of living or meet the needs of the American people,” said Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., criticized Democrats ahead of the vote for their opposition to the funding plan.
“They do this to try to score political points. I think they’re making the wrong calculation here,” Johnson said.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where it will require Democratic support in order to clear the 60-vote threshold required to pass most legislation through the chamber.
The funding effort comes after two record-setting government shutdowns during this Congress. Democrats forced a 45-day total government shutdown last year in a failed attempt to force Congressional Republicans to extend federal healthcare subsidies. That shutdown was, at the time, the longest in U.S. history.
A 76-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown followed at the beginning of this year after federal immigration enforcement personnel killed two American citizens in Minnesota. Democrats refused to support funding for the agency unless Republicans backed reforms, including restrictions on face-coverings and the deployment of body cameras for immigration enforcement officers. Ultimately, Republicans used a parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation to fund the agency on a party-line vote for the rest of President Trump’s time in office.
The bill’s path through the Senate is uncertain. Speaking with reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he would put a government funding plan to a vote before senators leave Washington for the August recess.
If Republicans are unable to reach a deal with Democrats to extend government funding, Thune said he would consider turning back to the reconciliation process to pass the bill on a strictly party-line basis.
“I hope that’s not necessary,” he said.
