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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding measure within hours on Friday, paving the way for Congress to avert a government shutdown after days of fighting on Capitol Hill.
The bill passed by the House of Representatives did not make any changes to the debt ceiling, defying Donald Trump’s calls to abolish or increase the mechanism.
But the measure found bipartisan support in the chamber, with Democrats joining Republicans to pass the bill by a vote of 366-34 just after 6 p.m. in Washington – six hours before the deadline.
The Democratic-controlled Senate must now vote on the bill before it is sent to President Joe Biden, who will support the legislation, according to the White House press secretary.
The passage of the law ends a week of unrest in Washington Trump and his ally Elon Musk exerted their influence on Republican hardliners, urging them to reject what they described as “freebies” for Democrats.
Before the bill was passed on Friday, musk expressed his continued disdain for the bill: “So is this a Republican bill or a Democratic bill?”
The measure passed was the Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson’s Third attempt to push a deal through the chamber after Trump torpedoed the first bipartisan agreement earlier this week.
The new bill was almost identical to Johnson’s second bill, but omitted any measures to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, despite Trump’s demands. It expands state funding at current levels and provides assistance for natural disaster relief and farmers.
Johnson said after the bill’s passage that he had been in “constant contact” with Trump and had spoken to Musk shortly before the vote and received their blessing.
Trump “knew exactly what we were doing and why and that’s a good outcome for the country. “I think he’s very happy with that outcome as well,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Johnson said he asked Musk, “Hey, do you want to be Speaker of the House?” . . He said, “This might be the hardest job in the world.” It is.”
The passage in the House marked a victory for Johnson, who had previously vowed that the US would “not allow a government shutdown.”
A switch off would temporarily close parts of the government and suspend pay for federal employees. Previous government shutdowns have resulted in hundreds of thousands of federal employees having to be furloughed.
The Democrats also won. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said his party “stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from overthrowing the government.”
He added: “House Democrats successfully stopped the billionaire boys club that wanted a $4 trillion blank check by suspending the debt ceiling.”
Trump’s looming presence during the debate was the biggest complicating factor in the frantic negotiations for a last-minute deal.
But as soon as voting began, Musk changed his mind, saying that Johnson “did a good job here under the circumstances.” It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. The ball should now be in Dem Court.”
Democrats were upset that the previous bipartisan agreement was abandoned and accused Musk of interfering in the process this week, causing further unrest in Congress just before the US holiday season.
“At the behest of the richest man in the world, for whom no one voted, the U.S. Congress has fallen into turmoil,” Democrat Rosa DeLauro said of Musk on Thursday.
Some leading Republicans also appeared to criticize Trump and Musk’s interventions.
“I don’t care how many times I’ve reminded you of it. . . “Our colleagues in the House of Representatives are emphasizing how damaging it is to shut down the government and how foolish it is to bet that your own side won’t take the blame,” said Mitch McConnell, the outgoing Senate Republican leader , on Friday.
“That said, if I took it personally every time my advice went unheeded, I probably wouldn’t have spent as long in this particular job.”
