The House of Representatives voted to pass a $1.4 trillion spending package on Tuesday to prevent a government shutdown just days before the government would run out of money.
The government was currently being funded from a continuing resolution (CR), which was passed in the House in November and provided funding until Dec. 20. There were two votes on separate measures. The first passed 297-120, the second passed in a 280-138 vote. The current spending bill expires at 11:59:59 pm ET on Friday. The package will now go to the Senate.
One measure the House approved contained eight appropriations bills, the other had four. The first passed by a 297-120 margin. The second cleared the chamber in a 280-138 vote.
The bill will increase the age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21, and offers provisions on export financing, flood insurance, and immigrant workers, according to PBS. $1.8 billion for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall was also included in this package.
(Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Democratic leadership in the House put together a spending package in September and gave it to members less than 24 hours before the Democrat-controlled House planned to vote on the legislation. (RELATED: House Democratic Leadership Unveils Last-Minute Spending Package)
The situation was very similar to the shutdown before Christmas in 2018, when House leadership passed a continuing resolution earlier in 2018 and moved appropriations until the holiday season. The House Freedom Caucus then convinced Trump to hold out over wall funding, starting the longest shutdown in recent history which lasted until January of 2019. (RELATED: House Dems Release Plan To End Shutdown — No Wall Included)
Trump is expected to sign the package, which will keep the government from a shutdown.