House Passes Speaker Mike Johnson’s Plan To Avert A Government Shutdown With Democratic Votes

On Tuesday, newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who is one the most conservative members of Congress, relied on Democratic votes to pass his “clean” continuing resolution by a vote of 336-95.

The plan would fund some government agencies until January 15 and others until February 1 at current levels, which Democrats established in the previous Congress.

Johnson found himself in a predicament that caused his predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California), to fail – requiring Democratic votes in order to avoid a government shutdown.

On Saturday, Johnson introduced a detailed proposal that would provisionally finance the government using a two-level system. This plan includes two deadlines – one in January and one in February – to come up with budgets for all government agencies.

This action could prevent the usual Washington tradition of shutdown threats and massive spending bills during the holiday season.

Considering the House’s history, Johnson might actually be preparing the nation for two government shutdowns instead of just one.

The adoption of the two-step approach seems to be an accommodation to the extreme right-wing faction. This faction strongly opposes the idea of “clean” continuing resolutions, or CRs, temporarily maintaining government operations at existing spending levels.

Commenting on this approach, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who is a member of the Freedom Caucus, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “It’s 100% clean. And I 100% oppose.”

The bill now moves to the Senate where it is likely to be approved before the Friday deadline for government funding to run out.