House passes spending bill to keep government open

The US House passed a spending package on Friday that will keep the government funded until March. The package passed just ahead of the deadline to avoid a government shutdown and will head to the Senate and then President Biden's desk. The vote was 366 to 34 with full Democrat support and 170 Republican votes. 

The continuing resolution has been a hot topic over the past few days. The first bill was a massive, pork-filled, 1,500 page tome. After pushback from President-elect Trump, Elon Musk and others the bill was tanked and replaced with a 116-page bill, which also didn't pass the House. One issue was the debt ceiling. On Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson came to a new deal to get the funding measure passed. 

"At the end of the day, I think everybody recognizes it makes sense to keep government open, but also to take care of those disaster victims who have been waiting for months for this relief and the farmers who are struggling," said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, praising Johnson's "tremendous leadership this week through very difficult times.

"There's a lot of good that's going to be done in this bill," Scalise said.

The House will again need to put forth a funding measure in March but Trump will be in office and able to weigh in on priorities. The Senate is expected to move to a vote on Friday night. 

Politico reported that Senator John Kennedy said he expects the work in the Senate to go past midnight.