Update (1755ET): The House passed the stopgap resolution on Tuesday to avert a partial government shutdown and fund federal agencies through September.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was able to convince most Republicans to vote for the bill, with the exception of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), while one Democrat - Jared Golden (D-ME) joined the Republicans in passing the measure which increases security spending by $4.4 billion, contains a $440 million boost for immigration enforcement, and cuts the IRS budget by $20 billion.
It also prevents Washington DC from spending $1 billion of its own tax dollars, and allows the Pentagon flexibility to buy new weapons - an odd provision in a stopgap bill that was demanded by GOP defense hawks.
The bill also has no new limits on DOGE, and does not prevent agency heads from firing federal workers or canceling federal grants and contracts - actions which are currently being challenged in the courts in what critics argue amount to illegal impoundments of money approved by Congress.
The bill passed in a 217 - 213 vote, and will now move to the Senate, where it needs at least 60 votes to pass - meaning around 10 Democrats will need to cross party lines.
Moderate Senate Democrats, including Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Mark Kelly of Arizona have given no indication on how they'll vote, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he would support it.
If a Saturday shutdown does occur, the White House budget office would have the flexibility to decide which federal workers are furloughed (and would receive backpay) and which essential staff must continue in their positions without pay. The military would remain on duty without pay until the shutdown was over.
Update (1240ET): JP Morgan has weighed in with the usual 'government shutdowns have meant little to the economy with the 5-week shutdown during 2018-19, real GDP fell by $11bn though $8bn was recovered after the gov’t reopened,' however the bank does note that 'equities have tended to fall in the days leading up to a shutdown before recovering all loses and resuming their trend higher,' while concluding "The setup is different this time and a gov’t shutdown is likely not on many investors’ radar."
Oh, fun...
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With three days remaining before the next shutdown, the House is expected to pass a stopgap funding package on Tuesday after the House Freedom Caucus agreed to back it - which means Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) may be able to pass the bill, which would fund the government until September - without the help of Democrats.
That said, despite the Freedom caucus' buy-in, Johnson still has several GOP holdouts - with the only one to go public being Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) - who President Donald Trump dragged on social media, calling for him to be primaried, and comparing him to Rep. Liz Cheney.
On Sunday, Massie said on X "I'm not voting for the Continuing Resolution budget (cut-copy-paste omnibus) this week," adding "Why would I vote to continue the waste fraud and abuse DOGE has found?"
To which Trump replied on Truth Social: "Congressman Thomas Massie, of beautiful Kentucky, is an automatic ‘NO’ vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past,” Trump said. “HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him."
To which Massie then replied: "Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn’t work on me."
Also potentially on the fence Punchbowl reports that Reps. Kat Cammack (R-FL) and Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) both raised concerns over the measure during a GOP whip meeting on Monday.
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