by The Senate on Tuesday took the first step to advance a stopgap spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the week, buying time to enact a broader bipartisan funding deal for the rest of the year.
By a vote of 68 to 13, senators voted to approve the legislation, which would temporarily extend funding for some federal agencies until March 1 and for others until March 8. It would keep spending levels stable while lawmakers and aides negotiate the details. of a $1.66 trillion deal reached between President Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, and Democrats.
The lopsided vote reflected broad support in the Senate for a measure that faces a much tougher path in the House, where far-right Republicans are rebelling against the spending deal and refusing to back it. Their opposition means Johnson will almost certainly be forced once again to turn to Democrats for help passing crucial spending legislation, in a vote expected later this week.
“The key to finishing our work this week will be bipartisan cooperation in both chambers,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “These bills cannot be passed without the support of Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate.”
He warned that “a small group of far-right extremists seem determined to make the closure a reality.”
It was unclear whether Senate conservatives who oppose the deal would try to delay its consideration. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, expressed his support for the bill.
“Shutting down the government, even part of it, would disrupt this important progress” of passing the 12 individual spending bills that fund the government, he said.
In the House, Republicans’ slim majority and hardline members’ resistance to the legislation mean Johnson won’t be able to pass it without strong Democratic support, along with help from traditional Republicans.
Members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus have opposed the spending deal, saying they would prefer a shutdown to a funding bill that keeps spending flat and does not impose new policies that crack down on migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“If the border is not secured, this government does not deserve to be funded,” Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida said on Fox News on Sunday. “We will fund the Department of Defense, we will pay our troops, we will take care of our veterans and the VA, we will even make sure that our border agents are paid so that they have some semblance of security. But the rest of this government does not deserve money if our border remains open as it is.”
The temporary extension of government funding could trigger a fierce fight over conservative policy provisions that House Republicans insist must be part of any spending legislation. They have loaded their funding bills with a series of partisan political mandates intended to amplify political battles over social issues (such as abortion restrictions, transgender rights and diversity initiatives) that House Democrats and the Senate have declared unsuccessful.
Johnson, who has angered the right by agreeing to the omnibus spending deal with Democrats, has signaled that he intends to allow such policy proposals to be attached to the funding bills needed to turn that deal into law.
“We have a blue-chip deal,” Johnson said last week. “This allows us to fight for our political priorities, for our political participants now. And our appropriators are determined to do it.”
But the proposals will almost certainly die in the Senate, making it likely that Johnson will be forced to abandon them or once again face the threat of a shutdown unless he turns again to Democrats to push through a final package.
