The House on Friday narrowly passed a stopgap bill to keep federal funding flowing past a Sept. 30 deadline and boost security spending for public officials. But the measure appeared dead on arrival in the Senate, where Democrats have vowed to block it, ramping up the likelihood of a government shutdown within days.
The legislation, approved in a 217-to-212 vote, would keep federal spending mostly at current levels through Nov. 21 and provide $88 million in emergency funding to bolster security for the members of the executive branch, the Supreme Court and Congress after the assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
The Senate was set to vote later Friday on whether to advance both that bill and an alternative put forward by Democrats that would add more than $1 trillion to extend Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year and roll back Medicaid and other health program cuts that Republicans included in their marquee tax cut and domestic policy law enacted over the summer.
But neither plan was expected to be able to muster the 60 votes necessary to move ahead, with each party dug in against the other’s measure. If they fail to break their impasse and enact at least a temporary spending plan by Sept. 30, the government will shut down.
Democratic leaders have said they will not provide the votes to move forward with Republicans’ plan because the G.O.P. has not negotiated with them or offered concessions at a time when President Trump has sought to usurp congressional spending power.
“House Democrats are willing to work with anyone, anywhere, at any time in order to make life better for the American people, and lower the high cost of living,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, said on Friday before the vote. “The partisan Republican spending bill fails that test.”
Republican leaders have said there is nothing to negotiate because their funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or “C.R.,” keeps spending levels flat and has no policy changes attached.
“We offered a totally clean short-term C.R.,” Speaker Mike Johnson said on Thursday night. Democrats’ counteroffer “is filled with partisan wish lists and poison pills and demands.”
Democrats argue that their plan includes vital measures to help Americans deal with health care costs.
If the Obamacare tax credits are allowed to lapse, around four million people are projected to lose coverage starting in 2026, and prices would go up for around 20 million more. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that 10 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 as a result of the health cuts in the new tax law.
Democrats’ stopgap spending plan also would restrict the Trump administration’s ability to unilaterally claw back funding Congress previously approved, a power that Mr. Trump has repeatedly invoked.
And it would provide far more funding to strengthen security measures for government officials than House Republicans have proposed — $326 million in total, compared to the $88 million boost sought by the G.O.P.
In March, the last time Congress faced a government funding deadline, Senate Democrats agonized for days over whether to allow Republicans’ stopgap measure to move forward. They ultimately allowed it to advance, prompting an outpouring of anger from liberal voters and activists who had urged their leaders to deny their votes in protest of Mr. Trump’s assault on the federal bureaucracy and unilateral defunding of programs.
This time, Democrats have not hesitated to signal their refusal to go along with Mr. Trump and Republicans, arguing that they are in a much different position after passage of the tax cut and domestic policy bill.
That measure, said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, “is highly unpopular with the American people.
“Democrats are unified,” he went on. “We have been strong on the same message for a very long time, which is: We need to help the American people lower their costs, particularly on health care.”
Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times.
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