By Richard Cowan, Bo Erickson, Andy Sullivan and Katharine Jackson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Friday that would avert a midnight government shutdown, defying President-elect Donald Trump’s demand to also greenlight trillions of dollars in new debt.
Next (LON:), the Democratic-controlled Senate would need to pass the bill to ensure the government will be funded beyond midnight (0500 GMT Saturday), when current funding expires. The White House said President Joe Biden intends to sign it into law if they do.
The legislation would extend government funding until March 14, provide $100 billion for disaster-hit states and $10 billion for farmers. It would not raise the debt ceiling — a difficult task Trump has pushed Congress to do before he takes office on Jan. 20.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans would have more power to influence government spending next year, when they will have majorities in both chambers of Congress and Trump will be in the White House.
“This was a necessary step to bridge the gap, to put us into that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final decisions on spending,” he told reporters after the vote. He said Trump supported the package.
A government shutdown would disrupt everything from law enforcement to national parks and suspend paychecks for millions of federal workers. A travel industry trade group warned that a shutdown could cost airlines, hotels and other companies $1 billion per week and lead to widespread disruptions during the busy Christmas season. Authorities warned travelers could face long lines at airports.
The package, which passed by a bipartisan vote of 366-34, resembled a bipartisan plan that was abandoned earlier this week after an online fusillade from Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who said it contained too many unrelated provisions, such as a pay raise for lawmakers and a crackdown on pharmacy benefit managers.
Republicans struck most of those elements from the bill — including a provision limiting investments in China which Democrats sa
