Government shutdown held at bay after House passes 45-day funding bill

From here, the bill will go to the Senate for a vote

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published September 30, 2023 3:58PM (EDT)

U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks to reporters outside the Speakers Balcony at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks to reporters outside the Speakers Balcony at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

After a tense holding pattern of watching the clock click towards a looming government shutdown, a crisis has been temporarily averted after the House passed a bill on Saturday afternoon, infusing funds for the next 45 days. 

This is a change from Friday when, as Salon reported, GOP infighting in the House killed a Republican bill aimed at avoiding the shutdown, with the list of the bill's far-right opponents included Reps. Dan Bishop, N.C., Lauren Boebert, Colo., Ken Buck, Colo., Tim Burchett, Tenn., Matt Gaetz, Fla., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ga.

As CBS News highlights in their coverage of the new bill that did make the vote, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was "forced to rely on Democrats for passage because the speaker's hard-right flank said it would oppose any short-term measure. The speaker set up a process for voting requiring a two-thirds supermajority, about 290 votes in the 435-member House for passage. Republicans hold a 221-212 majority, with two vacancies."

"The House is going to act so government will not shut down," McCarthy said in the hours prior to the vote. "We will put a clean funding, stopgap on the floor to keep government open for 45 days for the House and Senate to get their work done." 


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