House passes government funding bills ahead of shutdown deadline
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House Speaker Mike Johnson holds a news conference on Jan. 13. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The House passed a two-bill spending package Wednesday, bringing Congress another step closer to averting a shutdown.
Why it matters: Parts of the government will shut down Jan. 30 if Congress doesn't pass full-year spending bills or a short-term extension.
- The package funds the departments of Treasury and State, as well as the IRS and the Federal Trade Commission.
- The vote was 341-79.
The intrigue: House GOP leaders allowed amendment votes on the package after a group of conservatives demanded more input. Both amendments, one offered by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and another from Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), failed.
- The votes came after a group of hardliners staged a rebellion over another government funding package last week, withholding their support until leadership offered concessions about future appropriations bills.
- "We got assurances for the next remaining six bills, in terms of time, amendments, earmarks," Roy told Axios last week.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is dealing with increasingly narrow margins and can't afford to lose more than a handful of his members on party-line votes.
What's next: The House still needs to pass four appropriations bills for the 2026 fiscal year, which started Oct. 1.
- The House passed a package of three bills last week that fund Energy, Commerce, Interior and Justice departments through the end of the fiscal year, but the Senate has not finished processing that package.
Friction point: Lawmakers are at odds over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, complicating leadership's efforts to pass all twelve bills before the end of the month.
- Last week's shootings in Minneapolis and Portland have sparked widespread backlash from Democrats, with some pushing to defund ICE, or withhold support for DHS funding.
- "It's a politically very sensitive topic," House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters Tuesday. "That's why we decided not to push ahead with a Homeland bill this week."
- Congressional Republicans would not support any DHS funding bill that includes cuts to ICE.
