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The US House of Representatives has narrowly passed legislation to keep the federal government funded until the end of September, setting up a showdown in the Senate to avert a shutdown at the end of the week.
The House voted on Tuesday by a margin of 217 to 213 to push through a stop-gap measure known as a “continuing resolution” to extend funding due to expire on Friday.
Of those that cast a ballot, all but one Republican voted in favour, while all but one Democrat voted against.
“Today, House Republicans stood for the American people,” the House speaker Mike Johnson said on X. “Now it’s decision time for Senate Democrats: cast a vote to keep the government open or be responsible for shutting it down.”
The legislation’s passage — and the demonstration of Republican party unity — marks an important victory for President Donald Trump, who had urged the party to push it through despite misgivings.
The bill now heads to the Senate where it will require the backing of at least eight Democrats to secure passage. If it fails to pass by Friday, when current funding expires, the government will shut down.
Failure to pass funding legislation twice led to shutdowns during Trump’s first term, including a record-long closure that started in December 2018 as Republicans and Democrats sparred over funding the president’s border wall.
Tuesday’s continuing resolution largely extends spending by government agencies at current levels until the end of September, curbing funding in some non-defence areas, while boosting them in defence and immigration enforcement.
Lawmakers are supposed to pass spending bills by the start of each government fiscal year in October, but Republicans have been unable to muster support for a full bill, forcing them to turn to continuing resolutions as a stop-gap measure.
If the House legislation passes the Senate it will be the third temporary funding extension made in the past six months.
If it fails, all “non-essential” government functions will be suspended from Saturday, including national parks, environmental and food inspections and the Internal Revenue Service. Hundreds of thousands of workers could be furloughed.
Republicans’ razor thin majority in the House meant they could only afford to lose a handful of votes.
“We need to buy some time in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump had written on his Truth Social platform.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier on Tuesday that the president had spent the morning “engaged in correspondence with House Republicans, whipping votes and getting them to a yes”.
He also dispatched vice-president JD Vance to Capitol Hill to cajole lawmakers and lashed out at Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie, the lone Republican holdout, calling for a primary challenge against him.
In the Senate the legislation requires a supermajority of 60 votes in order to pass. Republicans have 53 seats in the chamber, but Republican Senator Rand Paul has indicated he plans to vote against it.
“The bill continues spending at the inflated pandemic levels and will add $2tn to the debt this year. Count me as a hell no,” the lawmaker wrote on X.
Additional reporting by Steff Chávez in Washington
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