The House on Friday passed a $1.2 trillion spending package to fund the rest of the government through the end of the fiscal year, beating back objections by conservative Republicans who said it didn’t go far enough on border security.
The bill cleared on a 286-134 vote, with 185 Democrats and 101 Republicans backing it.
It now moves to the Senate, where passage is likely, though it’s unclear whether the chamber can beat a midnight deadline when current funding expires.
The vote comes nearly six months after the deadline Congress sets for itself, but getting it done is still a significant win for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who braved conservative critics to put the measure on the floor.
Yet Mr. Johnson suffered a massive defection of 112 Republicans and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene started the process to boot him from the speaker post.
Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, filed a motion, known as a motion to vacate the chair, while the vote on the bill was in progress.
A small band of Republicans did the same thing to then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October for his handling of spending. Mr. McCarthy’s ouster sent the House into a spiral for nearly a month, culminating in the selection of Mr. Johnson as his successor.
The vote Friday followed passage earlier this month of a smaller spending bill, and once it is signed into law it will mean the entire government has money to operate through Sept. 30.
The colossal bill includes funding legislation for the Pentagon, the IRS, the Labor, State, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services departments, and Congress, which has about 70% of Congress’ government funding responsibilities.
Republicans who backed the bill said it made headway on some of their big priorities, including limiting the growth of spending, cutting some money from foreign aid and boosting the Pentagon’s budget.
“Against all odds, House Republicans refocused spending on America’s most crucial needs, at home and abroad,” said House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger, Texas Republican.
But some high-profile Republicans opposed it, including House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, Tennessee Republican, and Rep. Robert Aderholt, chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the spending bill for the Labor and Health departments.
“This is not the bill that my subcommittee produced and supported,” Mr. Aderholt, Alabama Republican, said on X. “The Senate has taken liberties with their [earmarks] that would never stand in the House.”
Republicans disliked the bill for many reasons, with a major sticking point being the size of the package and how little time lawmakers got to review it — the bill package came out early morning Thursday, giving lawmakers about 30 hours to comb through more than 1,000 pages of the bill text.
Others, including members of the House Freedom Caucus, were incensed by the package, saying it represented a huge concession to Democrats in the fight to bolster border security.
“Is there anything some Republicans won’t do,” House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, Virginia Republican, said. “Why are we in a rush to keep this government open?”
The bill includes new money for the Department of Homeland Security to hire more Border Patrol agents and expand detention capacity at Immigration and Customs Enforcement for those awaiting deportation, but it does not change the Biden administration policies most Republicans blame for the unprecedented chaos at the border.
“The increased numbers for Border Patrol will process more illegal aliens,” said Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican. “The ICE beds won’t be filled, they won’t be used, and we know it.”
Some progressive Democrats also rejected the bill, arguing that nixing funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency funding would hamper humanitarian efforts in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, has promised to delay the bill. If the upper chamber can’t pass the minibus by the midnight Friday deadline, the vote would spill into Saturday.
While that scenario means that a partial government shutdown would happen, the real effects would not be felt unless the Senate fails to advance the bill.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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