Government shutdown averted yet again as Trump Republicans blast spending bill

The House has voted to pass a stopgap spending bill, averting a looming government shutdown once again – and prompting pro-Trump Republicans to level fury against House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The continuing resolution will keep the government open until 8 March. The bill came as part of a larger agreement from Mr Johnson, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries as well as the leadership on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to vote on six of the 12 spending bills by 8 March.

The bill passed by 320 to 99 – Republicans being split on the matter and Democrats making up most of the support for the agreement. Only two Democrats voted against the legislation.

As has typically been the case, Mr Johnson and House Republican leadership had to rely on Democrats to pass the legislation while suspending the House rules, which requires a two-thirds majority and allowed the House to sidestep the House Rules Committee and a vote on a rule for debate on the House floor.

“I think having a bipartisan deal that you keep the government open on its face is not a problem,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told The Independent. “I think that's a political problem for him in his caucus.”

The bipartisan agreement includes bills to fund the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration; the Justice and Commerce Departments and science, energy and water development; the Department of Interior; the military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs; and the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Those bills will receive a vote on 8 March.

Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania