House passes temporary government funding bill months early

By — Kevin Freking, Associated Press Kevin Freking, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/house-passes-temporary-government-funding-bill-months-early Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter House passes temporary government funding bill months early Politics Jul 22, 2026 3:27 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The House moved Tuesday to head-off a potential government shutdown before this fall's critical midterm elections by passing a bill to fund the federal government through Dec. 4. The deadline for action is more than two months away, but House GOP leaders are not leaving to chance another possible shutdown souring the mood of voters shortly before they go to the polls. House Speaker Mike Johnson dared Democrats to vote against the bill, and if they did, "then they alone are going to own the chaos that ensues if the government shuts down after September 30." READ MORE: Andy Biggs wins Republican nomination to challenge Democrat Katie Hobbs for Arizona governor The House passed the measure by a mostly party-line vote of 220-205. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. It's highly unusual for Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill months before the end of the fiscal year. Lawmakers normally act just days or even hours before the deadline. But once lawmakers leave town this week, the House is scheduled to be in session for only 16 more days before the funding deadline. GOP leadership is laying the groundwork to spend most of that time on another priority: a long-shot, party-line bill that spends $95 billion to boost defense, aid farmers and get portions of President Donald Trump's elections overhaul bill passed into law. WATCH: Vote on U.S. aid to Israel exposes sharp divide in Congress "I think it's kind of smart to go ahead and take the potential chaos of a shutdown off the table because the amount of damage that does to the American citizens," said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. He said he believed a shutdown "probably works to the advantage of Democrats politically," and he blamed the press for such a scenario. Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the stopgap measure, which would generally fund agencies at current spending levels. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the legislation was dropped on Democrats on Friday without any bipartisan negotiations. She said that, among other priorities, Democrats would have pushed for provisions to reverse a proposed federal rule that could allow agency heads to block or terminate grants they claim don't match the president's priorities. She said that instead of a bipartisan agreement, "we are scrambling to jam through a one-sided stopgap measure two days before everyone leaves for the August recess." WATCH LIVE: Trump promotes investment accounts for kids at Georgia high school Republicans said work on the