The US House of Representatives votes on a last-minute bill to keep the government open

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The US House of Representatives approved a stop-gap funding measure just hours before it was to be made available on Friday, clearing the way for Congress to avoid a government shutdown after days of fighting on Capitol Hill.

The bill approved by the House of Representatives did not include any change in the debt ceiling, defying Donald Trump’s call to abolish or increase the mechanism.

But the measure had bipartisan support in the chamber, with Democrats joining Republicans to pass the bill by a vote of 366 to 34 just after 6 p.m. in Washington, six hours before the deadline.

The Democratic-controlled Senate must now vote on the law before it heads to the desk of President Joe Biden, who will support the legislation, according to the White House press secretary.

Activating the bill would end a week of volatility in Washington Trump His ally, Elon Musk, extended their influence over hard-line Republicans, pushing them to reject what they described as “gifts” to the Democrats.

Before the bill was passed on Friday. Musk He expressed his continued disdain for the bill: “So is this a Republican bill or a Democratic bill?”

The measure passed was the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson The third attempt to reach an agreement across the chamber after Trump torpedoed the first bipartisan agreement earlier in the week.

The new bill was almost identical to Johnson’s second bill, but stripped away any move to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, despite Trump’s demands. It expands government funding at current levels and provides aid for natural disaster relief and farmers.

Johnson said after the bill was passed that he spoke with Trump and Musk shortly before the vote and received their blessing.

Trump “knew exactly what we were doing and why, and that’s a good outcome for the country.” “I think he’s definitely happy with that result as well.”

Johnson said he asked Musk, “Hey, do you want to be Speaker of the House?” . . . “This may be the hardest job in the world,” he said. that it.”

Elon Musk and I spoke about an hour ago and talked about the unusual challenges of this job. I said: Do you want to be Speaker of the House of Representatives? I don’t know. “This may be the hardest job in the world,” he said

The passage of the resolution in the House of Representatives represents a victory for Johnson, who pledged earlier in the day that the United States “will not shut down its government.”

A close It would temporarily shut down parts of the government and suspend federal employee pay. Previous government shutdowns forced hundreds of thousands of federal employees to be furloughed.

Trump’s imminent presence at the debate was the biggest complicating factor in the frenetic negotiations to reach a last-minute agreement.

But once voting began, Musk changed his tune, saying Johnson “did a good job here, given the circumstances.” I went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. “The ball must now be in the Democrats’ court.”

Democrats, angry at the cancellation of the previous bipartisan agreement, blamed Musk for inserting himself into the process this week, sparking further unrest in Congress ahead of the US holiday season.

Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro said of Musk on Thursday: “At the request of the richest man in the world, for whom no one voted, the US Congress has entered a state of chaos.”

Some senior Republicans also appear to be critical of Trump and Musk’s interventions.

“I don’t care to count the number of times I’ve mentioned it. … Our counterparts in the House, how harmful a government shutdown is, and how foolish it is to bet that your side won’t take the blame for it,” Mitch McConnell, the outgoing Senate Republican leader, said on Friday. “.

“However, if I took it personally every time my advice wasn’t heeded, I probably wouldn’t have spent so much time at this particular job.”