House passes funding bill just hours before government shutdown

The House passed a funding bill to avert a partial government shutdown Friday, hours before a midnight deadline.

The package, hotly contested by Republican hardliners, passed 366-34, with near-unanimous support from 196 Democrats and 170 Republicans. The bill now moves to the Senate, where leaders of both parties hope to close a deal to expedite its final passage.

This is the third bill introduced in recent days. The first, rejected on Wednesday, was boycotted by Donald Trump and his allies, including Elon Musk, who caused lawmakers to begin tough rounds of negotiations until reaching a Continuing Resolution (CR) acceptable to both parties.

Then, on Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson presented Republicans with a bill far less massive than Wednesday's, which was more than 1,500 pages long. That measure was streamlined to just 116 pages did not cut any key spending demanded by Democrats, and included a key request from President Trump to extend the debt limit.

But neither Democrats nor hardline Republicans supported the bill, which failed miserably on the floor.

Finally, after intense negotiations, Johnson and Democratic leaders reached a deal on Friday: a nearly identical bill, but without Trump's key debt-limit request.

The House-passed spending package includes more than $110 billion in disaster aid and a one-year extension of the farm bill, items that generated common ground between Republicans and Democrats.

After the approval, Speaker Johnson was optimistic about the agreement after days of uncertainty.

"We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays," Johnson said.

Hakeem Jeffries, House minority leader, bluntly celebrated the bill's passage.

"House Democrats have successfully funded the government at levels requested by President Biden in order to meet the needs of the American people...This is a victory for the American people."

Unlike yesterday, President Trump has yet to sign off on the bill, but Elon Musk took to X to praise Johnson's effort and leadership in these pivotal hours.

The House's passage of the bill comes as the national debt has surpassed $36 trillion, and the deficit exceeds $1.8 trillion.

It is now all hands on deck for the Senate to avoid a government shutdown before midnight.

This is a developing story.