The move marks a critical step toward ending a more-than-six-month battle over the scope of Washington’s spending for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
Washington DC: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion government funding bill on Friday (March 22) with more support from Democrats than the majority Republicans, leading to a fresh threat by a hardline conservative lawmaker to oust Speaker Mike Johnson.
The House’s 286-134 vote sends the measure to the Democratic-majority Senate, which has hours to act ahead of a midnight deadline (0400 GMT Saturday) when parts of the Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department to Treasury and State departments would begin to close.
The move marks a critical step toward ending a more-than-six-month battle over the scope of Washington’s spending for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Ratings agencies have warned that the repeated brinkmanship could hurt the creditworthiness of a federal government that currently has more than $34.6 trillion in debt.
The measure passed the House with 185 Democrats and 101 Republican votes, which led hardline conservative Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene to introduce a measure to oust Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. Johnson himself ascended to that role in October after hardliners furious that his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, had passed a temporary funding measure over their objections, ousted him as leader.
But Greene said she would not push for an immediate vote. She told reporters “it’s more of a warning than a pink slip.”