With only hours to spare, a divided House of Representatives passed a stop-gap spending bill that keeps the government open. The bill now goes to the Senate for its approval and the president for his signature. The process has until midnight Friday, Eastern Time, but in fact the term “government shutdown” is not accurate, as much of the government would remain open even if the bill didn’t pass on time. Essential workers’ paychecks would be delayed, however.
The House vote was 366 to 34. Alaska’s Rep. Mary Peltola voted in favor of the American Relief Act, as the bill is titled, although she had voted no on earlier versions. The bill needed two-thirds majority to pass.
The bill was cut down from over 1,500 pages to 118 pages did not include a debt limit increase that had been requested by President Donald Trump.
Without question, the public weighing in on X/Twitter created pressure on lawmakers. Democrats in the House seethed that Elon Musk, who owns X, had so much influence in the process.
This story will be updated.
