(The Center Square) – The House has overwhelmingly voted against the stopgap bill presented to the House floor Thursday evening by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., after a last-minute scramble.
With 174 yeas and 235 nays, opposition from both Democrats and Republicans tanked the 116-page American Relief Act, 2025 which needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
The measure would have funded the government through March, allocated roughly $100 billion in disaster relief, extended the farm bill for a year, and suspended the debt ceiling until January 2027.
The bill also dropped key concessions Johnson’s original stopgap bill made to Democrats, including a new football stadium in Washington, D.C., a reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, and a future pay raise for members of Congress.
As expected, Democrats revolted over the axing of their previously negotiated priorities.
“We reached a bipartisan agreement that will help farmers, families, the future of working-class Americans, children, seniors, veterans, and the men and women in uniform all across the nation and the world,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters. “That bipartisan agreement has now been detonated.”
A substantial number of Republicans also opposed the stopgap because of the debt suspension, even though most of the “pork” projects had been eliminated.
“My position is simple – I am not going to raise or suspend the debt ceiling (racking up more debt) without significant & real spending cuts attached to it,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, posted on X four hours before the bill reached the floor. “I’ve been negotiating to that end. No apologies.”
Congress has until Friday at midnight to reach a deal before the government shuts down.
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
