At 12:01 am Saturday, the federal government was projected to shut down. House Republicans have been sprinting to find a passable measure to keep the government open. The initial bill, 1,500 pages long, was dead on arrival, suffering a brutal drubbing by Hill conservatives.
The second measure had less pork, was barely 150 pages long, and was essentially a clean continuing resolution, with a clean farm bill extension, disaster relief for Hurricane Milton victims, and delayed a debt ceiling raise for two years. Extending the debt ceiling for two years apparently was MAGA extremism for Democrats who went ballistic on the second bill. That, too, failed after 38 Republicans voted it down, citing the deficits. It took multiple attempts, but the government will remain open until March on a debt-ceiling-less measure that passed overwhelmingly (via Politico):
House Republicans have landed on their fourth plan to fund the government: Relying on Democrats to pass a bill that doesn’t include a debt limit measure pushed by Donald Trump.
House Republicans voted in their closed-door conference meeting on Friday on the strategy, according to more than a dozen Republicans leaving the meeting. In addition to funding the government until March 14, the plan will also include a one-year farm bill extension and the $110 billion disaster aid package Republicans negotiated with Democrats.
Republicans expect they will vote on the package on Friday, with less than 12 hours remaining until a shutdown deadline. Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told reporters after the meeting that “there is a path that has been agreed to.” Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters that there would “very likely” be a vote on Friday afternoon.
Johnson was cagier than other GOP lawmakers as he left the meeting, saying that he had “one more little detail to work out.” It’s unclear if he’s gotten Trump’s blessing on the latest plan.
“We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck,” Johnson told reporters.
House now voting on interim spending bill package
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 20, 2024
BREAKING: US House passes GOP spending bill, averting government shutdown
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 20, 2024
House passes new interim spending bill 366-34 with 1 member voting present. Crockett of Tx. Now onto the Senate
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 20, 2024
So, there will be no shutdown. Joe Biden decided to sit this fight out for strategic reasons. After the damning Wall Street Journal report about how his aides noticed he was cooked on day one of his presidency, we all know the truth: the old man couldn't hang or likely understand what was going on, so his handler kept him away.
Biden was AWOL. The leader of the Democrats hid from the chaos. Another damning indictment of the weakness of this presidency, which cannot end soon enough.