Government shutdown averted as Senate sends Biden funding bill: Live

The bill set to fund the Departments of Justice and Commerce that was taken down by around 20 House Republicans and the Democrats on Wednesday faced opposition as it funds the FBI – an agency targeted by the GOP as they claim it has been politicized.

But Republicans also discussed blocking bills as a payback after Speaker Mike Johnson enlisted Democrats to pass a funding package without massive cuts to avert a shutdown, Politico notes.

As Democrats are not helping Mr Johnson on straightforward governing votes, he needs almost unanimous support from his party to begin debate on any legislation.

“I think it gets bumpy from here on out,” Rep Andy Ogles told the outlet. “Anything and everything is on the table.”

Many Republicans from swing districts and districts that voted for President Joe Biden voted for the legislation.

“Well, we can’t afford it shut the government down,” Rep Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) told The Independent. “We need to pay our border patrol agents we need to keep our government running. We need more time.”

Rep Mike Lawler said that the passage showed Mr Johnson’s skill.

“Obviously, it’s an important step for him as speaker to be able to show that we can govern and that you know, when it comes time to do big things, like this, that he’s able to do it,” he said.

Many right-wing Republicans criticised the approach, but refrained from criticising Mr Johnson personally. Rep Ken Buck (R-CO), who voted with seven other Republicans to depose Kevin McCarthy as speaker, said Mr Johnson faced a different set of circumstances.

“What happened with Kevin was he knew that we weren’t on schedule with the appropriations bills,” he told The Independent. “Now, Johnson inherits that mess, and Johnson’s got to do something about it.”

The saga between Tim Burchett and Kevin McCarthy has rumbled on into its second day, with the TennesseeRepublican now suggesting that South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace has dirt on the former House Speaker.

Speaking on Newsmax on Wednesday, Mr Burchett said that Mr McCarthy “has $17m in an account,” before accusing him of plotting to use the cash to mess with “a lot of people like my and Nancy Mace’s campaigns, I’m sure”.

“I don’t know if he does that with Nancy Mace. She could come back with some stuff that he doesn’t want out there in the public, I think. If you know what I’m saying,” Newsmax co-host Rob Finnerty said.

Rep Burchett responded: “She’s already told me. She said, ‘I hope he does that with me.’ And she’ll take care of him.”

Ms Mace and Mr Burchett were among the eight Republicans who voted to oust Mr McCarthy as House speaker last month.

“Today I voted for the Motion to Vacate and remove the Speaker. This isn’t about left vs right. This isn’t about ideology. This is about trust and keeping your word. This is about making Congress do its job,” Ms Mace said in a statement at the time.

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Rep Chip Roy (R-TX) told reporters he did not appreciate the way the bill passed.

“We should move at a bill that has overwhelming Republican support,” he said. “This had majority Republicans support but barely and I can promise you a lot of those yes votes for weren’t very happy about it.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, where Mr Schumer said it could have a quick passage.

The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to prevent a government shutdown after new Republican Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to reach across the aisle to Democrats when hard-right conservatives revolted against his plan.

Johnson’s proposal to temporarily fund the government into the new year passed on a bipartisan 336-95 tally, but 93 Republicans voted against it. It was the first time the new speaker had to force vital legislation through the House, and he showed a willingness to leave his right-flank Republicans behind — the same political move that cost the last House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, his job just weeks ago.

For now, Johnson of Louisiana appeared on track for a better outcome. His approach, which the Senate is expected to approve by week’s end, effectively pushes a final showdown over government funding to the new year.

“Making sure that government stays in operation is a matter of conscience for all of us. We owe that to the American people,” Johnson said earlier Tuesday at a news conference at the Capitol.

Amid all of the unrest, something interesting happened on Capitol Hill on Tuesday: The House of Representatives passed a government funding bill with no spending cuts.

More surprisingly, however, House conservatives did not revolt against Speaker Mike Johnson for doing the same thing that former speaker Kevin McCarthy did at the end of September, even though they hated the idea of a “clean” spending bill.

On top of that, even though Democrats think that Mr Johnson’s two-tiered spending bill is less than ideal, they are pretty satisfied with it and the Senate will likely take it up either Wednesday or Thursday.

“I think this whole idea of a two-part process is ridiculous, but at least we’re not shutting down government and there’s no spending cuts and there’s no poison pills,” Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told The Independent.

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The new Republican leader faced the same political problem that led to McCarthy’s ouster — angry, frustrated, hard-right GOP lawmakers rejected his approach, demanded budget cuts and voted against the plan. Rather than the applause and handshakes that usually follow passage of a bill, several hardline conservatives animatedly confronted the speaker as they exited the chamber.

Without enough support from his Republican majority, Johnson had little choice but to rely on Democrats to ensure passage to keep the federal government running.

Johnson’s proposal puts forward a unique — critics say bizarre — two-part process that temporarily funds some federal agencies to Jan. 19 and others to Feb. 2. It’s a continuing resolution, or CR, that comes without any of the deep cuts conservatives have demanded all year. It also fails to include President Joe Biden’s request for nearly $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel, border security and other supplemental funds.

“We’re not surrendering,” Johnson assured after a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Tuesday morning, vowing he would not support another stopgap. “But you have to choose fights you can win.”