House stopgap spending measure overcomes first procedural hurdle as shutdown looms

The House voted to begin debate on a stopgap spending measure that would temporarily fund the government for 31 days, buying Congress time to pass its 12 appropriations bills for the next fiscal year.

Lawmakers voted 218-210 to begin consideration of the 31-day continuing resolution, teeing the legislation up for a final vote Friday afternoon and setting the stage for negotiations with the Senate just two days before federal funding is set to lapse. The vote marks a win for GOP leaders, who faced growing opposition from some rank-and-file Republicans who threatened to vote against the legislation, making a shutdown all the more likely.

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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was among GOP lawmakers threatening to vote against the legislation, warning leadership over the last two weeks there would be too many intraparty defectors for the bill to pass. Gaetz supported the continuing resolution, and no Republicans voted against the measure.

Despite the measure passing the House, the stopgap measure is considered to be dead on arrival in the Senate due to its $1.471 trillion top line — which is far lower than what Senate Democrats are considering. Even if it did manage to pass the Senate, the White House threatened to veto the legislation should it ever reach President Joe Biden’s desk.

The continuing resolution is the same one proposed by lawmakers last week, only it includes a fiscal commission to examine the nation’s debt, and the Department of Homeland Security is not affected by the spending cuts.

The resolution would cut spending down to $1.471 trillion over the next month, marking a more than 29% cut. The Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and DHS are unaffected by these cuts.

The legislation also includes H.R. 2, the House’s border security bill that passed earlier this year, but without E-Verify — something a number of rural Republicans were against. It would also create a fiscal commission to examine the nation’s debt.

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The House is scheduled to reconvene at 1 p.m. to vote on final passage, and House Republicans are set to hold a conference meeting at 2 p.m. to discuss next steps.

Meanwhile, the Senate is preparing to vote on a stopgap spending measure negotiated between Republicans and Democrats over the weekend that would include disaster funding and Ukrainian aid, a proposal that some Republicans say is “dead on arrival” in the House. Federal funding is set to lapse at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1.