The panel voted 8-4, along party lines, to pass the measure, teeing up the legislation for a full floor vote on Wednesday.
Democrats used the Rules meeting to criticize the Senate deal, which left out an extension to expiring enhanced Obamacare tax subsidies the party had been trying to secure in return for ending the shutdown, offering a total of 43 amendments to the spending resolution.
The funding agreement struck by the Senate would fund the government until the end of January and includes funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program until the end of fiscal 2026. It also reverses layoffs conducted by the Trump administration during the shutdown and freezes future layoffs until the funding patch expires.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has repeatedly railed against the funding deal struck in the Senate, saying that Democrats will continue to fight to extend the expiring tax subsidies.
Ahead of the Rules markup, Jeffries told reporters that Democrats would offer amendments to extend the credits for three years and strip another provision that would essentially allow senators to sue the U.S. government for accessing their data without their knowledge. The Senate provision was included after it was revealed that several GOP lawmakers’ data was collected as part of a Biden-era investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“We’re going to tattoo that provision just like we’re going to tattoo the Republican healthcare crisis on the foreheads of every single House Republican who dares vote for this bill,” Jeffries said Tuesday night.
The amendment Jeffries supported did not pass the Rules Committee, losing in a vote that happened shortly after 1 a.m. with eight opposed and only four in favor.
Another amendment to fund Planned Parenthood was proposed by Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA).
“The CBO numbers don’t lie,” Scanlon said. “By defunding Planned Parenthood, the big ugly bill increases the deficit, so this isn’t about saving money, it’s about punishing Planned Parenthood and the one million people who rely on its health centers every year for cancer screenings, STI testing, birth control, and safe legal abortion. Republicans are willing to gut public health, cut off care demands, and take away essential services, all to get a win for their most extreme base and to secure tax cuts for billionaires.”
That proposal was also unsuccessful, being denied along party lines with eight voting against it and four supporting the amendment. It was a recurring theme for all of the proposed amendments during the hearing as they all failed.
During the Rules markup, Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) and Rules Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-MA) sparred repeatedly, with Cole criticizing McGovern and Democrats for withholding their support for a funding deal and accusing them of “putting thousands of people out of work.”
Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) later pressed Cole over the Senate provision that would allow senators to sue the government and receive up to $500,000 or more for each violation, asking him if he supported it.
“I didn’t have anything to do with it,” Cole conceded. “Didn’t have any knowledge of it.”
When pressed further by Neguse, Cole went on to say, “Do I support the bill? Yes. Do I support every single provision in the bill? No.”
Now that the legislation has advanced out of the Rules committee, it can now head to the House floor, where members will first vote on the rule, and then on final passage. Early Wednesday morning, a release was issued that reported the House will meet at 12 p.m. for “legislative business.” The first votes are expected at approximately 5:10 p.m. and the last votes at 7:15 p.m.
Jeffries said Democratic leadership is expecting its members to be “strongly opposed” to the legislation, meaning House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will largely have to rely on his own conference to get the bill across the finish line on Wednesday.
That task is expected to be easier for Johnson than in previous shutdown fights, with some of his usual holdouts already publicly on his side ahead of the vote. The conservative House Freedom Caucus sent a list of talking points to its members on Monday, touting the legislation as a “complete and total win.”
“This continuing resolution gets government funding to the end of January 2026, thereby blocking attempts by Democrats and the Swamp to force a budget-busting, pork-filled, lobbyist-handout omnibus at the last minute before Christmas,” reads the memorandum, confirmed by the Washington Examiner.
HOUSE FLICKERS BACK TO LIFE AS MIKE JOHNSON PREPARES SHUTDOWN VOTE
Still, House GOP leadership can only afford to lose two GOP votes, assuming no Democrats cross over. Already, one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), who last week said he was retiring from Congress, has signaled he could vote for the measure.
On the Republican side, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has voiced concerns about provisions in the bill that would crack down on the hemp industry. Massie and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) were the two GOP no-votes on the House’s funding bill that passed in September.
