House fails to pass rejiggered stopgap funding bill amid bipartisan opposition

Shortly before House Republicans put up a rejiggered government funding bill this evening that was doomed to failure, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) had a stern message for them: if the government shuts down tomorrow, it’s their fault.

“This is on your watch,” Pallone said. “You’re the majority, you’re responsible. This is not going to pass, the government’s going to shut down, and the American people are going to suffer because of you.”

The bill that was voted on tonight was one that had not even existed before today. House Republicans had initially reached a deal with Democrats this week on a massive temporary funding measure that also included provisions on disaster relief, aid for farmers, and other bills that Congress wanted to pass before the current session ends, but it was scuttled amid opposition from President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.

Today’s bill – a pared-down version of the package that was missing many of its key components and added a provision suspending the debt ceiling – had Trump’s and Musk’s support, but Democrats and a not-insignificant number of Republicans weren’t on board. The bill, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass, went down 174-235.

New Jersey’s three Republican congressmen – Reps. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), and Chris Smith (R-Manchester) – were not among the 38 GOP defectors; all three voted for the bill, and the five New Jersey Democrats in attendance voted against it.

Two other Democrats, Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) and Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly), were not there for the vote, possibly because they’re both attempting to juggle their congressional duties with ongoing campaigns for governor. Both knew that tonight’s bill would not succeed regardless, however, and both are in Washington for any future funding efforts that are put on the House floor.

It’s not clear what the next steps are, with the funding deadline arriving tomorrow at midnight. For Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the priority will likely be to salvage as many of the consumer protection, health care, and environment-oriented provisions that had been in the original bill as possible. (One of the nixed provisions was a traumatic brain injury fund reauthorization bill honoring the late Rep. Bill Pascrell.)

“You jettisoned all the things that we worked on on a bipartisan basis to try to bring prices down, be fair to the American people, protect the consumer, protect the environment, protect safety,” he said before tonight’s vote. “Instead you decided to simply go ahead with something that you know will not pass, that will shut the government down.”