US House votes through last-gasp bill to keep government open

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The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a funding limit measure with just hours to spare, paving the way for Congress to avert a government shutdown after days of fighting on Capitol Hill.

The bill passed by the House of Representatives does not include any changes to the debt ceiling, reversing Donald Trump’s call to repeal or increase the mechanism.

But the measure won bipartisan support in the House, with Democrats joining Republicans to pass the bill 366-34 shortly after 6 p.m. in Washington, six hours before the deadline.

The Democratic-controlled Senate must now vote on the legislation before it goes to the desk of President Joe Biden, who will support the legislation, according to a White House press secretary.

The bill’s passage would end a week of uncertainty in Washington Trump and his ally Elon Musk turned their influence on hard-line Republicans, prompting them to reject what they said were “donations” to Democrats.

Before the bill’s passage on Friday, Musk “So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?”

The decision was made by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson The third attempt to get a deal through the House after Trump torpedoed the first bilateral agreement earlier in the week.

The new bill was nearly identical to Johnson’s second, but canceled any move to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, despite Trump’s demands.

After the bill passed, Johnson said he had been in “constant contact” with Trump and had spoken with Musk just before the vote and received their blessing.

Trump “knew exactly what we were doing, why and, and this is a good result for the country. I think he’s certainly happy with this result as well,” he told reporters at the Capitol.

Johnson said he asked Musk. “Hey, you want to become the president of the chamber.” . . He said, “This might be the hardest job in the world.” It is.

This part of the House of Representatives marked a victory for Johnson, who had earlier promised that the US “will not shut down the government.”

A: shutdown will temporarily shut down parts of the government and freeze the pay of federal workers Previous government shutdowns have forced hundreds of thousands of federal workers out of work.

Democrats also claimed victory, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying his party had “stopped the extreme Maga Republicans from shutting down the government.”

He added: “House Democrats Successfully Stopped Billionaire Boys’ Club Wanting $4 Trillion Check By Suspending Debt Ceiling.”

Trump’s looming presence at the debate has been the biggest complicating factor in the frenetic negotiations to find a last-minute deal.

But as soon as the vote began, Musk changed his tune, saying Johnson “has done a good job here, given the circumstances. It’s gone from a pound note to an ounce note. Now the ball is in the court of faces.”

Democrats, angry that an earlier bipartisan deal fell apart, accused Musk of inserting himself into the process this week, sparking more turmoil in Congress just before the US holiday season.

“At the behest of the richest man in the world, who no one voted for, the US Congress is in a panic,” Democrat Rosa DeLauro said of Musk on Thursday.

Some leading Republicans also appeared to be critical of Trump and Musk’s interventions.

“I don’t think how many times I reminded . . . “Our colleagues in the House of Representatives, how damaging a government shutdown is, and how foolish it is to bet that your side won’t take the blame,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on Friday.

“That being said, if I took it personally every time my advice went unheeded, I probably wouldn’t be spending as much time as I have in this particular job.”