In an extremely close vote, the House managed to advance a $1.1 trillion spending package that would avert a government shutdown at midnight.
The 212-214 approval of the legislative “rule” sets up a Thursday afternoon vote on final passage of the measure, which is comprised of two spending bills.
The legislation at times came close to failing, thanks to overwhelming opposition from Democrats, who typically vote against legislative rules en masse.
The running vote total shifted back and forth as the clock ran down. Republican leaders kept the vote open as they dug into their ranks to find more “aye” votes. At several instances, more lawmakers were voting against the bill than for it, but finally it passed.
The GOP leadership was able to convince Rep. Kerry Bentivolio, R-Mich., to switch his vote, helping pass the measure.
Among Republicans, 16 voted against the measure.
According to one top GOP aide, final passage is expected to have a wider margin of victory.
The vote was close because the legislation had accumulated dozens of detractors on both sides of the aisle, all for different reasons.
Conservatives in the GOP refused to vote for the bill because it did nothing to stop President Obama’s recent directive to stem the deportation of illegal immigrants.
On the Democratic side, opposition mounted to several provisions in the bill, including one that would void a key Wall Street banking reform and another that would lift caps on some campaign contributions.
Many Democrats hoped they could kill the measure by defeating it during the vote on the rule.
They were rallied by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who this week delivered an impassioned speech against the provision, urging rejection of the entire package unless it was removed.
“This bill is going nowhere, because we have enough people, I believe, who are going to stand up and fight on this issue, and on other issues in this bill,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who argued against the banking provision.
Conservatives argued that to vote for the bill would violate their oath to uphold the constitution, which they believe Obama has violated through his executive action on deportations.
“I can’t vote for this,” Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said before walking into the chamber and voting for the rule. He plans to vote against final passage.
But the legislation was ultimately able to pass, in part because it was negotiated between Republicans and Democrats, who run the Senate. Each side signed off on the 1,600-page package earlier this week, with opposition from various factions in both parties mounting in a matter of days as they dug through the legislation.
The package, introduced by the House Appropriations Committee after hours of closed-door negotiations is made up of two bills. One measure would fund most of the government through September 2015 while a second bill would pay for the Department of Homeland Security until Feb. 27.
If the House passes the bill Thursday afternoon, it moves to the Senate for consideration.
