BREAKING: House Passes Spending Bill To Avert Shutdown, Thomas Massie Says Johnson “Flipped His Decision” On Separate Bills After Meeting With Democrats

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The House of Representatives passed legislation on Friday to avert a government shutdown.

The short-term bill will keep the government funded through March 14th and advances to the Senate.

The legislation passed in a 366-34 vote, with all opposition coming from Republicans.

Per NBC News:

The Republican-controlled House on Friday evening passed a short-term bill to avert a government shutdown, just hours ahead of a deadline that would force U.S. troops, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers and millions of other federal workers to work without pay during the holidays.

The vote was 366-34, with all opposition coming from Republicans and one member voting present. It capped a tumultuous week in the House that foreshadowed how the new Congress in January might deal with a mercurial Donald Trump back in the White House. A two-thirds vote was needed because the bill came to the floor under a fast-track process.

The legislation now heads to the Senate which must pass it before 12:01 a.m. to avert a shutdown.

The package funds the government at current levels through March 14, and includes $100 billion in disaster aid and a one-year farm bill — while stripping out a debt limit extension demanded by President-elect Trump earlier in the week.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said House Speaker Mike Johnson “flipped his decision” to pass the entire legislation in one bill after speaking to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

“Thomas Massie has won. The House GOP leadership is splitting the spending bill into smaller pieces. Each section will be voted on individually and allowed to pass or fail on it’s own. CR, disaster relief, debt limit increase, etc. They will each be separate votes,” Wall Street Mav wrote.

“This was in fact correct when you tweeted it, but speaker Johnson flipped his decision after the meeting when he spoke to Hakeem Jeffries and realized he could get Democrat votes to pass all the legislation as one bill,” Massie responded.

“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” Elon Musk questioned.

“It’s much improved because of transparency & feedback X has provided. It went from roughly 1500 pages to 100. Lots of pork was cut. Johnson agreed this morning to pass what remained as separate bills, but when he found out Jeffries will provide votes, he went back to 1 bill,” Massie replied.

CBS News reports:

It does not address the debt ceiling, something Trump had demanded during the tumultuous back-and-forth over the course of the week. House Republicans instead vowed to address the issue in a future tax bill once Trump is in power.

Johnson painted the measure as a “necessary step to bridge the gap” before Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress and the White House in January.

“Trying to jam a debt ceiling suspension into the legislation at the 11th hour was not sustainable,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said ahead of the vote. Jeffries later praised the bill’s passage, saying “House Democrats have successfully stopped the billionaire boys club.”

The White House expressed support for the legislation as House members were voting on the floor.

“While it does not include everything we sought, it includes disaster relief that the president requested for the communities recovering from the storm, eliminates the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires, and would ensure that the government can continue to operate at full capacity,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.



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