House Republicans passed legislation to keep the U.S. government open past a Saturday shutdown deadline, daring moderate Democrats in the Senate to block the measure over objections it fails to constrain Elon Musk’s cost-cutting crusade.
GOP congressional leaders didn’t negotiate with Democrats on the President Donald Trump-backed funding measure, which runs through Sept. 30. Earlier talks broke down after Democrats demanded language to rein in Musk.
Republican leaders sent House lawmakers home after the vote, seeking to force the Senate to accept the spending package or be blamed for a shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson said Democrats would be responsible for “every negative consequence that comes from shutting down the government.”
The House passed the bill, 217-213, with Jared Golden of Maine the only Democrat to support it. Republican Thomas Massie joined Democrats in voting against the measure.
The bill will likely need the support of at least eight Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate to become law, given opposition from Republican Rand Paul to the bill.
If the measure fails in the Senate, Republican congressional leaders could try to pass a shorter-term stopgap later in the week and bring House lawmakers back to Washington to cast their votes on it.
Johnson was able to unite fractious House Republicans with help from Trump, who threatened a primary challenge against Massie for opposing it.
To win over Republicans, the measure increases security spending by $4.4 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It has a $440 million boost for immigration enforcement, while cutting the Internal Revenue Service by $20 billion and blocking the District of Columbia from spending $1 billion of its own tax dollars. It also gives the Pentagon flexibility to buy new weapons, an unusual provision in a stopgap bill demanded by GOP defense hawks.
Johnson argued that passing the 99-page stopgap bill would allow Congress to focus on making deep spending cuts next year. The cuts next year would be informed by the efforts of Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to identify “wasteful” spending, he said.
The bill contains no new limits to prevent DOGE and agency heads from firing federal workers or canceling federal grants and contracts. The Musk effort has already effectively shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development and laid off thousands of probationary federal employees across the government.
Those actions are being challenged in the courts, as critics argue they amount to illegal impoundments of money approved by Congress.
Democrats voted against the bill, despite years of condemning government shutdowns, saying it would enable Musk’s efforts.
“We’re not going to provide our votes to perpetuate stealing taxpayers money,” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said.
Moderate Senate Democrats including Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Mark Kelly of Arizona declined to say how they would vote on the bill when asked. Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman said he would support it.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer simply said before the vote he was waiting to see whether the House would pass it.
If a shutdown occurs on Saturday, the White House budget office would have latitude to decide which federal workers are furloughed and which essential staff must continue without pay. Military troops would remain on duty without pay until the end of the shutdown. Under current law, furloughed workers would automatically receive back pay even though they did not work.
