Last-minute budget bill to prevent US government shutdown wins in House | Government Affairs

A last-minute budget bill passed the United States House of Representatives to keep the federal government funded and running through mid-March, averting an imminent shutdown.

The ongoing resolution now moves to the Senate just hours before the shutdown comes into force on Saturday at 12:01am local time (05:01 GMT).

On Friday evening, the interim budget legislation passed the House with an overwhelming 366 votes in favor.

Only 34 representatives, all Republicans, voted against the bill. Another Democrat, Jasmine Crockett of Texas, refused to vote “for now”.

“We are very grateful that tonight, by a unanimous vote, we passed the Help America Act of 2025,” said Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, at a news conference after the vote.

The stopgap bill, however, left out one key issue that had stalled recent negotiations: the debt freeze.

Normally, Congress measures federal spending separately from the debt, which limits how much the government can borrow.

But this week, President-elect Donald Trump scrapped the previous bipartisan bill in part because it didn't extend or end the debt ceiling, which he likened to a “guillotine” hanging over his incoming administration.

The debt ceiling has become a divisive issue among Republicans, some of whom fear that extending or ending it would pave the way for unfettered government spending.

Trump, for his part, has threatened to mount primary challenges to any Republican who opposes his plan. He expressed his preference for the debt debate to take place under the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat and his old rival.

“Unless the Democrats end or significantly increase the Debt Ceiling now, I will fight to the end,” Trump said on social media Wednesday. “This is a terrible TRAP set by the Radical Left Democrats! They are looking to embarrass us in June when it comes to voting.”

Trump's opposition to this week's bipartisan legislation has put him at odds with Johnson, another top Republican leader. Johnson's predecessor as speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, was ousted last year in a landmark vote over his role in passing a double-dealing spending bill.

After the first bipartisan bill was defeated on Wednesday, Trump supported another version that failed in the House the next day, Thursday. All Democrats opposed it, along with 38 Republicans.

Friday's bill managed to regain Democratic support after closed-door negotiations. In his remarks after the vote, Johnson tried to cast the latest spending deal as a success of Trump's America First economic platform.

“This is an America First law, because it allows us to be dedicated to providing for the American people,” Johnson said.

He also pointed out the changes that will take place in January, when the new Congress is sworn in and Donald Trump takes a second term. If that happens, Republicans will hold a majority in both chambers of Congress.

“In January, we're going to make a sea change in Washington,” Johnson said. “Things will be very different here. This was a necessary step to close the gap, to get us to that moment where we can put our fingers on spending in 2025. “

Like previous bills, the stopgap measure passed Friday contains about $10bn in farm aid and $100bn in disaster relief, especially important after the devastation of hurricanes like Helene and Milton.

But the controversy surrounding the previous version of the bill had largely subsided by Friday night, with Trump supporters such as billionaire Elon Musk striking a conciliatory note.

Musk, who had criticized Wednesday's version of the bill as “criminal”, praised Speaker Johnson after Friday night's vote for getting the legislation right.

“The Speaker has done a good job here, given the circumstances,” he wrote on the X social media platform. “It went from a bill that weighed a pound to a bill that weighed an ounce.”

Democrats, meanwhile, have questioned Musk's growing influence over the Republican Party. Musk is slated to advise the incoming Trump administration in the new role, as part of an independent, yet-to-be-formed agency known as the Department of Government Operations.

“Obviously, what Donald Trump wanted, he didn't get,” Representative Jared Moskowitz of Florida told reporters as he walked down the Capitol steps. “It looks like Elon got some of the things he was looking for. So that's interesting.”

Moskowitz credited Democrats for giving Republicans the majority needed to pass the bill in the House, despite disagreements within the right-wing caucus.

“The drama that is going on here two days ago did not have to happen,” he said. “And we ended up in the same place we were going to live, which was the Democrats providing more votes to keep the government open and deliver for the American people.”