DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICANS TO AVOID GOV'T. SHUTDOWN

By Carl Hulse and Catie Edmonsdon

New York Times

In a stunning turnabout, the House on Saturday approved a stopgap plan to avert a government shutdown that was less than 12 hours away as a coalition of Republicans and Democrats backed a last-ditch proposal hastily put forward by Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The measure, which still must pass the Senate, would keep money flowing to government agencies through mid-November and provide billions of dollars for disaster recovery efforts. But it did not include money for Ukraine, a major sticking point for Democrats in the House and Senate.

However, Democrats did not want to be put in a position where Republicans could accuse them of putting the U.S. aid to Ukraine ahead of keeping government agencies open and paying two million members of the military and 1.5 million federal employees.

“Are you telling me you would shut down the government if there is not Ukraine funding?” Representative Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, asked Democrats on the House floor.

The measure passed on a vote of 335-91, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it. Mr. McCarthy had outlined his plan in a closed-door meeting with Republicans on Saturday morning and then brought it quickly to the floor without certainty whether it could pass.

“I like to gamble,” he said.

The action came as senators had been on the brink of their own vote on whether to move ahead with their bipartisan stopgap effort to fund the government through mid-November. That bill included both $6 billion for disaster and $6 billion to keep munitions and other assistance going to Ukraine. But they held off on their vote to see what would happen with the House measure, and after the strong bipartisan vote, appeared likely to take it up.

The strategy was a final effort by Mr. McCarthy to show that Republicans were making an effort to keep the government open, just hours away from a shutdown. But it put his job at risk since he has faced continuous threats from the far-right that they would move to oust him from the speakership if he steered around Republicans and pushed through a funding plan with Democratic support.

Federal agencies were bracing to be closed as of Sunday if no stopgap was enacted by then. The armed forces and other so-called essential workers such as air traffic controllers and airport security workers would remain on the job but without pay until the standoff was resolved.