House Passes Funding Bill, Pushing Shutdown Fight to December

The House voted Tuesday to pass a short-term government funding measure, sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk and delaying any threat of a shutdown until at least Dec. 11.

The vote was the second attempt at passing the continuing resolution since July. It ends months of speculation over whether House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would use a shutdown as leverage ahead of the November midterm elections. Both Democratic leaders ultimately backed the bill, which had already cleared the Senate, giving House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., the votes he needed to pass it.

While House Democrats supported the bipartisan measure, some conservative Republicans objected to changes Senate negotiators added to the bill. Those changes include a 30-day delay of a congressionally approved ban on certain hemp products and a provision limiting the Trump administration’s authority over federal grants.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., and other members of Johnson’s right flank criticized both provisions, a concern echoed by some Senate Republicans.

“The Senate did violence to our bill,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “Hemp and the grants are the two big ones…and frankly, I just don’t think CRs ought to be on suspension…when you put it on suspension, you’re not asking for my vote, okay, you’re going to get Democrats.”

Passing a bill under “suspension” fast-tracks it past several procedural steps, but raises the vote threshold needed for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds.

The change to the grant rule does not permanently eliminate the administration’s push for more control over federal grants. Senate Republicans were told by the administration that a renewed effort on that front could be ready by the time the current funding measure expires in December. Democrats have argued that expanded control over grants could let the administration steer federal dollars toward or away from specific states.

The new deadline gives lawmakers a little over a month to draft a full budget for fiscal year 2027, which begins Oct. 1. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said that timeline is unrealistic and placed the blame on Senate Democrats, whom he accused of trying to complicate Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins’ re-election bid in Maine.

“They clearly do not want Susan Collins to have any success. So all of America has to suffer until they figure out who’s going to win in Maine,” Cole said. “We’re going to risk a year-long CR, if not a shutdown. So they’ve just been incredibly irresponsible.”