Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is rushing a bill to the floor to extend spending levels enacted earlier this year over overwhelming Republican opposition.
The House will vote Friday evening, hours before the midnight shutdown.
The Senate must still consider the legislation, although the spending levels passed the Senate overwhelmingly in March, with Democrats locking arms almost uniformly in support.
“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” Elon Musk asked on X after the deal was announced.
Friday’s CR is the second time Johnson has extended those spending levels. In September, Congress passed a CR that allowed Congress to extend the original September 30 deadline into the lame duck, leading to gloating from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Breitbart News reported on that CR agreement:
The agreement gives Schumer what he has long craved – the opportunity to pass a spending bill in the lame duck session after the election but before the new Congress is seated in January, locking in spending levels and policy priorities before an expected Republican takeover in the upper chamber relegates him to minority leader.
Friday, Schumer got his way.
Breitbart News reported in March after Johnson passed one $1.2 trillion rung of that ladder over “the objections of the majority of House Republicans, violating the Hastert Rule and crossing the Rubicon into dangerous territory for the future of his Speakership”:
Johnson sent the bill to the Senate despite the objections of 112 Republican colleagues, with only 101 Republican votes in favor, although Johnson and his leadership team applied significant pressure.
Johnson also broke a House rule intended to give lawmakers time to review legislation before a vote. The 1,000-plus page spending bill was presented to members before 3:00 a.m. Eastern on Thursday morning, less than 36 hours before the vote.
The other rung narrowly achieved a Republican majority, although many more Democrats supported it than Republicans.
Friday’s new CR’s level of support by Republicans is unknown, but Democrats are certain to support an extension of spending levels they so overwhelmingly supported previously.
The bill, which extends spending levels into March, also includes a one-year extension of the farm bill and over one hundred billion dollars in supplemental farm and disaster aid.
The deal does not include a debt limit increase sought by President Donald Trump, although Republicans made a handshake agreement to include an increase in a reconciliation bill next year. The prospects of that bill passing are increasingly suspect.
The bill will be considered under suspension of the rules, meaning a two-thirds majority of the House is needed. Democrats are expected to provide the bulk of the bill’s support.
The Senate might swallow the CR, or Schumer might exploit his leverage to request even more additions to the bill.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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