101 House Republicans Join with Democrats to Pass $1.2 Trillion Spending Bill
The House passed a $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill hours before funding ran out for much of the federal government at midnight Friday.
The bill received bipartisan support, with 101 Republicans joining with 185 Democrats who voted yea on the bill.
Opposition to the bill, however was also relatively bipartisan, with 112 nay votes from Republicans and 22 from Democrats.
Six members of each party, including Arizona Republican Paul Gosar and Massachusetts Democrat Ayanna Pressley, were listed as not voting.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle wanted to avoid a partial government shutdown during an election year, multiple outlets noted.
Interested readers can find out how their representatives voted on the measure at the website of the House clerk.
The measure now moves to the Senate, where Chuck Schumer urged quick action on it.
“Let’s finish the job today. Let’s avoid even a weekend shutdown. Let’s finish the job of funding the government for the remainder of the fiscal year,” Schumer said, according to Reuters.
“There is no reason to delay,” he added.
The bill as written includes over 1,000 pages, detailing funding of raises for U.S. service members and funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Departments of Justice, State and the Treasury, Reuters said.
Nearly three-quarters of the $1.2 trillion bill will go to funding the Defense Department.
According to Axios, most of the federal funding would remain the same as it was in 2023.
The 22 Democrats who voted against the bill did so in protest of the fact that it prohibited funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency over concerns that that organization had supported the radical Islamic terrorists of Hamas in their attacks against Israel.
“Today’s minibus would ban funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency until next year, preventing millions of Palestinian civilians from getting the humanitarian aid they desperately need as [Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin] Netanyahu’s war on the people of Gaza continues,” New York Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman claimed, according to Axios.
During the vote, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson, who won the speakership in October after former California Rep. Kevin McCarthy found himself on the receiving end of the same type of motion.
“It’s more of a warning and a pink slip,” Greene told reporters after filing the motion, according to Fox News. “There’s not a time limit on this, it doesn’t have to be forced … But I’m not saying that it won’t happen in two weeks, or it won’t happen.”
In reality, Johnson is unlikely to be ousted from the role, as at least two Democrats have indicated that they would likely vote to support him as speaker.
“I do not support Speaker Johnson but I will never stand by and let MTG to take over the people’s House,” Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz said in a post to X, for example.
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