By Siobhan Hughes

WASHINGTON -- The GOP-controlled House was set to vote Friday on a stopgap measure keeping the government funded until late November, an opening bid ahead of what are expected to be down-to-the-wire talks to avoid a government shutdown in two weeks.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and his fellow Republican leaders have cast the vote as buying time to iron out comprehensive spending legislation for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Some rank-and-file GOP members have said they oppose the approach, but such dissent has evaporated in the past under pressure from President Trump and House leaders.

"I'm optimistic but it's not certain," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R., Okla.) when asked if he expected the measure to clear the House. "It really is a work in progress -- it's going to be close. That's why it's a big vote."

Democrats, still smarting from the passage of President Trump's "big," beautiful tax law over the summer, are demanding more than $1 trillion in healthcare spending as the price of their support, including extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and restoring cut Medicaid funds. While Democrats can't block the House vote, they can stop the measure in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most legislation.

The House measure would extend government funding at current levels through Nov. 21. It would provide $88 million in additional funds for the security of lawmakers, the executive branch and the judiciary, reflecting heightened anxiety about political violence following the murder of Republican activist Charlie Kirk. It would also allow the District of Columbia to spend its own taxpayer-provided funds after a March spending law blocked the city from spending about $1 billion of its own money.

If no deal is reached, funding would lapse after Sept. 30, prompting a partial government shutdown.

House Republicans had worked into Thursday evening to wrangle outstanding GOP votes, with some members concerned about the lack of a game plan after Nov. 21 and a handful of other Republicans worried that an extra $30 million to protect lawmakers was insufficient.

Since being elected to the top position in October 2023, the House speaker has relied on Democrats for many short-term spending bills. But he was able to keep his caucus largely united in March, where the most recent continuing resolution or CR, was passed.

"With narrow margins, you have to have near unanimous support for anything to move," said Rep. Ben Cline (R., Va.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus. "The speaker's done a great job of corralling members and ensuring that that support is there, but it takes time and effort. He's putting in the effort."

The next drama will come in the Senate, which is slated to take up the spending bill shortly after House passage and where Democrats are nearly entirely unified in opposition.

"Republicans can choose: either listen to Donald Trump and shut the government down, or break this logjam by supporting our bill and keeping the government open," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said on the Senate floor.

Democrats have proposed an alternative that would fund the government through Oct. 31 and reverse hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicaid enacted under President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" that Republicans have since rebranded the "working families tax cut." It would also permanently extend certain Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of this year -- subsidies that are politically sensitive for Republicans because they are used by more than 20 million lower-income or middle-class consumers -- the swath of the electorate that supported Trump in 2024.

Republicans reject the Democratic proposal as unserious and a recipe for a government shutdown if the party doesn't pull back.

"The Democrats want a ransom payment of more than $1 trillion to keep the government open for only four more weeks," said House Majority Whip John Barrasso (R., Wyo.).

In the 53-47 GOP-controlled Senate, at least eight Democrats will need to vote yes to clear the 60-vote hurdle for most legislation, with Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) planning to vote "no."

Write to Siobhan Hughes at Siobhan.hughes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 19, 2025 10:12 ET (14:12 GMT)

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