House Passes HR 1968 – FY 2025 Spending Bill

Earlier today, the House took up HR 1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, under a rule. After an hour of debate, the House passed the bill by a near party-line vote of 217 to 213 (one Republican voted nay and one Democrat voted yeah). The bill now goes to the Senate where the Republican leadership needs to pull seven Democrats into voting for the bill. That vote could come Thursday.

Johnson has pulled together his fractious caucus for two key votes early in the 119^th Congress. While Johnson deserves much credit, it is clear that it was the pressure exerted by President Trump on the potential holdouts that kept this bill alive. More important than merely passing this spending bill is that today’s vote is going to have to change the political calculus of the 119^th Congress. Today, it looks like the Johnson and his team (with  more than a little help from the White House) may actually be able to get some of their agenda to the President’s desk.

Cloture will remain a problem in the Senate, at least until it upsets the President enough to push for a change in the Senate’s rules.