House passes government funding patch, sending over to Senate

By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square

Right before recessing for the Rosh Hashanah holiday, U.S. House lawmakers passed Friday a short-term Continuing Resolution to postpone the Sept. 30 government shutdown deadline.

If passed by the Senate, the CR will freeze most federal funding at current levels for a period of seven weeks, giving lawmakers time to finish passing all 12 annual appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026.

It also includes $30 million for lawmaker security and $58 million for U.S. Supreme Court judges and members of the executive branch.

Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, was the only Democrat to vote for the bill, while only two Republicans – Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., – voted no.

Nearly all Democrats opposed the bill because it did not include health care policy riders, such as an extension of the COVID-19 era expansion of Obamacare Premium Tax Credits.

“Democrats believe we must address this health crisis,” Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., told lawmakers prior to the vote. “This has to be addressed in the spending bill. Republicans’ spending bill does not address the health care crisis and for that reason, I am opposed.”

But House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., called Democrats’ opposition “political theater.”

“At the beginning of this process, I was asked to produce a clean bill for a limited period of time by my colleagues on the other side,” Cole said. “Then, all of a sudden, we have extraneous demands for things unrelated to the day-to-day operation of the government…You got exactly what you asked for.”

The bill now heads to the Senate for a vote.