House Passes Spending Bill to Avoid Partial Government Shutdown Despite Conservative Opposition

The House passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill on Friday that would allow Congress to avoid an imminent partial shutdown, despite outcry from hard-right conservatives who argued the bill was “chock-full of crap” and did not go far enough in providing resources to secure the U.S. border.

Lawmakers passed the bill in a 286-134 vote despite opposition from conservative Republicans, who threatened to oust Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson over the intra-party brouhaha.

Representative Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.), who called the bill “chock-full of crap” called on Johnson to push back against Democrats ahead of the vote on Friday.

“Doggone it, fight!” Biggs said. “This is capitulation, this is surrender.” 

Conservatives opposed the significant price tag of the bill, which effectively served as six spending bills joined into one package. Several sticking points included $200 million in funding for the new FBI headquarters in Maryland and additional funding for LGBT centers.

As the vote proceeded, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene began the process to launch a vote on his removal, though she said afterwards that she meant it only as a “warning” to the speaker. She said she did not immediately plan to move forward with efforts to push him out, though she called his actions a “betrayal.”

Greene said the spending bill had been Republicans’ “leverage” that they should have used to secure the border.

Fewer than half of the House Republican coalition supported the bill, with detractors like Greene calling the measure an “atrocious attack on the American people.”

Still, Republicans negotiated several provisions that would send additional resources to the border, including funding for 2,000 new Border Patrol agents and more ICE detention beds. The bill would also increase funding for technology at the southern border by 25 percent.

It would also end aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA), a controversial agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees, amid reports that at least 12 UNRWA staff participated in the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel in October.

The U.S. and at least eleven other countries have suspended payments to UNRWA while the U.N. investigates reports that UNRWA staff were involved in the kidnapping of Israelis and foreign nationals visiting or residing in Israel, procuring weapons or coordinating logistics for Hamas, and the murder of civilians at a kibbutz. .

“House Republicans achieved conservative policy wins, rejected extreme Democrat proposals, and imposed substantial cuts while significantly strengthening national defense,” Johnson said in a statement. “The process was also an important step in breaking the omnibus muscle memory and represents the best achievable outcome in a divided government.”

Looking down a deadline on 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, the Senate will now consider the funding bill. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer called for its quick passage.