The Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday took a key step toward funding the federal government past a March 14 deadline.
The short-term spending measure — also known as a continuing resolution (CR) — passed in a 217-213 vote, with one Republican voting no and one Democrat voting yes. The measure still has to pass the Republican-majority Senate to be signed into law.
“Voting against the CR will hurt the American people and kill the incredible momentum that President [Donald] Trump has built over the past 51 days,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Appropriations bills are required to pass a 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate, which means Republicans will need to secure Democratic votes. The House went out of session for the rest of the week starting Tuesday afternoon, putting pressure on senators to pass its version of the CR.
“We are prepared to take it up here in the Senate and make sure that on Friday, the government stays open. But it will be up to the Democrats as to whether or not that happens between now and then,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Tuesday.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson quelled dissent from within his own party to pass the spending measure. He told reporters Tuesday the seven-month continuing resolution was an important step toward implementing Trump’s agenda of rooting out government waste and abuse through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“It allows us to move forward with changing the size and scope of the federal government. There is a seismic shift going on in Washington right now. This is a different moment than we have ever been in. The DOGE work is finding massive amounts of fraud, waste and abuse,” Johnson said. “We have a White House that is actually dedicated to getting us back onto a fiscally responsible track.”
Independent watchdogs and analysts, however, say DOGE is using overly broad claims of fraud to generate support for large-scale cuts to federal programs and offices.
Earlier Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance spoke to lawmakers on Capitol Hill to shore up support for the measure. Representative Thomas Massie was the lone Republican holdout, despite Trump’s post Monday night on Truth Social calling for Massie to lose his seat if he voted against the spending measure.
The continuing resolution buys lawmakers time to reach a compromise on Senate and House versions of government spending, a key tool for implementing Trump’s domestic policy agenda.
At question is how and when to enact a proposed extension of the 2017 tax cuts and how to pay down the U.S. deficit without cutting key safety net programs that help American voters.
“Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Senate Republicans know their math on billionaire tax cuts won’t work without slashing these vital benefits,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday.
Senate leadership has proposed passing the tax cuts in a separate bill later this year.
VOA’s Anita Powell contriubted to this report.
