Tuesday’s vote was a major test for the new Speaker.
House Speaker Mike Johnson may have avoided a disaster in the chamber, but the celebrations may be short-lived.
The House voted to avert a government shutdown on Tuesday, passing Johnson’s continuing resolution, or «CR.» The vote was seen as a huge win for Johnson, who was able to get 209 House Democrats to cross party lines and support the bill, which would fund some government departments until mid-January and the rest through early February.
The bill was a major test for the new Speaker, who was elected less than a month ago and who continues to govern a starkly divided Republican conference. Ninety-three conservative hardliners threatened to derail his plans for a stopgap measure, voting against the CR because it lacked spending cuts or policy changes they wanted included in the legislation.
But even though the measure cleared what would likely be its biggest hurdle, Johnson still has a long road ahead of him as speaker.
The bill will now head to the Senate, where leaders on both sides have signaled they’re willing to push it through.
