The House and Senate both voted to pass yet another stopgap funding measure Thursday, staving off the threat of a looming government shutdown until at least next month while buying themselves more time to hash out a deal that would cover the full year.
Washington is now looking at a partial shutdown that would take effect March 8 if lawmakers cannot come to another agreement to fund the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Interior, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development—with a much larger chunk of the federal government set to shutter on March 22 if a long-term deal does not materialize.
Hardline Republicans in the House spent much of Thursday grousing after Speaker Mike Johnson cut a deal with his counterparts in the Senate and White House to advance the measure, which resembles a similar deal that led to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s ouster from the speakership late last year.
The deal also comes after Speaker Johnson pledged not to approve any more short-term funding bills that would “kick the can down the road,” as his Republican colleagues have taken to saying.
“It’s not where we need to be to actually fundamentally change the town,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy told CNN. “We have a trillion dollars of interest in 2026, guys. I mean, I don’t know what to tell you. Something’s got to stop. Something’s got to change.”