(WASHINGTON) — The House passed the Republicans’ short-term government funding bill on Friday ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to avert a shutdown.
The final tally was 217-212. Ultimately, all but two Republicans supported the President Donald Trump-backed spending bill. Reps. Thomas Massie and Victoria Spartz voted no.
Nearly all Democrats who were present voted against the measure though Rep. Jared Golden of Maine voted in favor.
The funding bill now heads to the Senate where its fate is uncertain as Democratic support is necessary for passage.
Ahead of the vote, Democrats signaled they would vote to shut down the government if Republicans didn’t cave to Democratic demands to restore cuts to Medicaid and extend Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson slammed Democrats for the move.
“It’s just very unfortunate the Democrats are trying to play partisan games when we’re in good faith trying to fund the government,” Johnson told reporters as he arrived at the Capitol on Thursday.
For his part, Trump urged House Republicans to support the “clean” funding bill Thursday afternoon.
“Every House Republican should UNIFY, and VOTE YES!” Trump posted to his social media platform. He also repeated his claim that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic lawmakers want a government shutdown.
The funding plan proposes $30 million in additional member security over a more than seven-week stretch — giving each member of Congress around $7,500 each week to spend on security — more than double their own congressional salary. The package also includes $58 million to meet the Trump administration’s request for supplemental funding for the executive and judicial branches.
That funding supplants a pilot funding program that lawmakers had utilized for member security in the wake of the shooting targeting state lawmakers in Minnesota over the summer.
“We will not support a partisan spending bill that Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people that continues to gut health care,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters ahead of the vote. “No one who is following what Republicans have done to rip away health care of the American people can reasonably suggest that responsible legislators should do anything other than push back aggressively to protect the health care of the American people.”
Senate and House Democrats had unveiled a counter funding proposal that would only extend government funding until Oct. 31 and include health care-related proposals like rolling back Medicaid cuts in Trump’s megabill that passed earlier this year. This plan is a non-starter with Republicans who control majorities in both chambers.
The GOP plan, however, presents a real challenge in the Senate, requiring at least seven Democratic votes to reach 60 votes for passage.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has urged Senate Democrats to support the short-term measure, arguing the bill is a clean extension of funding.
“There’s nothing in here about President Trump,” Thune said on the Senate floor this week. “This is a clean funding resolution, bipartisan funding resolution, short-term, to allow the Appropriations Committee to do its work.”
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