Democrats take victory lap after stopgap spending measure passes House: ‘MAGA Republicans lost’

Democratic leaders are taking a victory lap after the House passed a temporary spending bill to keep the government funded for 45 days, framing the legislation as a win for their party and taking credit for averting a government shutdown.

The House voted Saturday to pass a clean continuing resolution in a last-ditch effort to keep the government open less than 10 hours before the fiscal year ended and federal funding was set to lapse. The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, with only 90 Republicans and one Democrat voting against it.

HOUSE TO PUSH 45-DAY CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON FLOOR THAT EXCLUDES UKRAINE FUNDING

House Republican leaders unveiled the plan during a closed-door conference meeting on Saturday morning, offering up a 45-day stopgap measure that would maintain current government spending levels and include disaster funding without any Ukraine aid. The proposal was offered after the House failed to advance a Republican-led continuing resolution the night before that sought to cut spending levels and include the party’s border security bill, prompting GOP leaders to advance a two-party solution.

Democrats initially signaled opposition to the stopgap measure but ultimately voted in favor, pushing the legislation across the finish line — prompting party leaders to paint its passage as a Democratic win for forcing Republicans to advance a clean continuing resolution without any of their policy provisions attached.

“We went from devastating cuts that would have impacted the health, safety, and economic wellbeing of the American people [to a] spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people across the board [and is] entirely consistent with what Democrats have said from the very beginning: The only path forward a bipartisan spending agreement that keeps government open avoids a catastrophic government shutdown,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said. “The American people have won. Extreme MAGA Republicans have lost.”

Minority Whip Katherine Clark echoed similar sentiments, taking credit for the bill’s passage and framing it as a loss for McCarthy.

“Today, Democrats came to the rescue,” she said. “Speaker McCarthy admitted defeat and asked Democrats to put out the fire that he and his party had started.”

Some House Republicans expressed outrage with the spending legislation, with several hard-line conservatives renewing threats to oust McCarthy from his speakership. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has repeatedly threatened to file a motion to vacate if McCarthy advanced a continuing resolution with Democratic support, with the Florida Republican telling reporters on Saturday that the speaker was on “tenuous ground.”

“The fact that we’re reverting to the normal muscle memory of Washington to pass a continuing resolution is certainly disappointing,” he said.

McCarthy again brushed off any threats to his leadership position, defending the spending deal as being necessary to avoid a shutdown.

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“If somebody wants a motion against me, bring it,” McCarthy said. “There has to be an adult in the room.”

The continuing resolution now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers could vote on it as early as Saturday evening. The bill would then head to President Joe Biden for his approval just hours ahead of the funding deadline.