Speaker Mike Johnson, backed by President Trump, secures near-unanimous Republican support for procedural vote on massive funding package, paving way for final passage
US House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday moved to head off a conservative revolt within his own party, clearing the way for a vote on a sweeping government funding bill and putting Congress on track to avert a shutdown within hours.
According to a CNN report, Johnson and his leadership team, with backing from President Donald Trump, secured support from all but one Republican lawmaker for a key procedural vote on the House floor.
Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the sole Republican to oppose the measure.
The House is expected to vote on final passage of the funding package later Tuesday afternoon.
Trump and his allies applied pressure to conservative Republicans who had threatened to block the bill unless party leaders agreed to attach strict voter ID requirements.
The effort helped bring most holdouts into line, allowing the legislation to advance.
The House vote on the funding package would complete congressional work on 11 of the annual appropriations bills that fund the government through the budget year ending September 30.
The final bill, covering the Department of Homeland Security, remains under negotiation as Democrats push for stricter limits on enforcement operations.
President Donald Trump has said he will sign the bill once it reaches his desk.
Speaker Mike Johnson needed near-unanimous backing from his Republican conference to advance the legislation and narrowly secured it in a 217-215 vote. The vote was held open for nearly an hour as leaders worked to win over a small group of GOP lawmakers pressing unrelated priorities.
“We have to work through individual members’ concerns. That’s the game here. It’s a consensus building operation. We do it every day,” Associated Press quoted Johnson as saying.
Trump also weighed in Monday, urging Republicans to stay united.
“There can be NO CHANGES at this time. We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown that will hurt our Country so badly — One that will not benefit Republicans or Democrats. I hope everyone will vote, YES!,” he wrote on his social media platform.
The measure would end the partial government shutdown that began Saturday.
Alongside funding most federal agencies through September 30, it provides a short-term funding patch for the Department of Homeland Security through February 13 as lawmakers continue negotiating potential changes to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
With inputs from agencies
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