Democrats bail out Johnson, avert government shutdown

The House of Representatives voted to keep the government afloat until mid-March on Friday evening after GOP infighting brought the country within hours of a lapse in federal funding. 

The bill passed with the support of nearly all Democrats in the House and 170 Republicans. The 34 votes against the proposal all came from the GOP caucus. Those naysayers were holding a line from earlier in the week when they voted down representatives who voted down two prior measures.

A failed proposal on Thursday drew the ire of deficit-hawk conservatives, as it would have suspended the debt ceiling for two years. That pause was excluded from the Friday bill, which extended current apportionments until March 14 and funded Democratic-backed disaster relief and farm aid packages.

The bill is expected to pass easily in the Senate and head to President Joe Biden’s desk tonight, skirting a midnight shutdown.

Embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson turned to Democrats after a number of his colleagues signaled an unwillingness to tweak the debt ceiling or approve more spending. Billionaire Elon Musk, a close confidant of Trump, called for the party to let government funding expire until the president-elect’s January inauguration.

Johnson called the bill’s passage a “good outcome for the country,” adding that he discussed the package with Trump before the vote.

“[I] spoke with him most recently about 45 minutes ago. He knew exactly what we were doing,” Johnson told reporters. “I think he certainly is happy about this outcome.”

Trump previously vowed to support primary challengers for any Republican who voted for a funding bill without the debt ceiling extension.

The shutdown aversion could ultimately doom Johnson on Jan. 3, when House Republicans are slated to select a new speaker. The GOP holds an exceptionally slim majority in the lower chamber, and many House Republicans are already floating names for his potential replacement.