A dispute over phone records has divided Republicans as lawmakers rush to reopen the government after the House has been out of session for nearly two months.
USA TODAY reporter rejects House vote to end government shutdown
USA TODAY’s Congressional reporter Zachary Schermele takes a closer look at the House vote to end the government shutdown.
WASHINGTON – Partisan rifts were on full display Wednesday night as lawmakers voted to end the longest government shutdown in history.
After a nearly two-month recess, House members unleashed weeks of frustration on the floor over a history-making funding crisis that was largely left to the Senate to resolve.
House members, who last voted on Sept. 19, returned to the nation’s capital to approve the Senate-passed funding package to reopen the government. Nearly all Democrats opposed the bill, saying it did not do enough to address rising health care costs. But most Republicans supported it. The final vote was 222-209.
For both sides, the night brought considerable trouble and notable scenes. Here are five key moments.
race to return
Amid massive disruptions to air travel, Congressional leaders worried that members would not be able to return in time to vote. Some relied on carpools, with one Republican lawmaker driving nearly 1,000 miles on his motorcycle from Wisconsin.
Representative Tom Tiffany, also a Republican from Wisconsin, was in Milwaukee on Wednesday morning to accept his endorsement of the state’s gubernatorial race. Like most other members of Congress, he eventually returned to Washington in time to vote.
Johnson returned after a long break
After 54 days without a vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) gaveled the chamber Wednesday afternoon. Johnson presided over the longest recess of its kind, suspending nearly all activity in the House of Representatives as part of a political tactic to pressure Senate Democrats to reopen the government.
“I’m not going to waste any more time,” he said late in the evening.
Grijalva takes oath of office, secures Epstein’s vote
In his first assignment, Johnson swore in Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva.
The formal action comes seven weeks after she won a special election in September to replace her late father in Congress. The delay drew widespread condemnation from Democrats as well as some Republicans, who said it set a dangerous precedent in the transition of political power.
Her addition to the Legislature ensures that there will be enough support from lawmakers to force a vote on a bill that would release more government files related to the late disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Conflict over the provision of “slush money”
Efforts to reopen the government have hit a major deadlock after House Republicans began criticizing members of their own party in the Senate over provisions in a funding package to end the government shutdown.
The bill, which Democrats say creates a “slush fund,” would allow Republican senators like South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham to sue the federal government if their electronic records are secretly obtained. The Biden administration has subpoenaed their phone records as part of the investigation into the January 6 riot.
But House Republicans, including the powerful Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole of Oklahoma, said in recent days that they were unaware of the provision until it was attached to the government reopening bill.
After the House voted to pass the spending bill, House Speaker Johnson told reporters that he called Senate Minority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) on Wednesday morning to express how “very angry” he was with the provision. Johnson added that Republicans plan to introduce a bill next week that would repeal the controversial provision.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said the measure would allow lawmakers to “push millions of dollars into their own wallets.”
“This is perhaps the most brazen theft and plunder of public resources ever proposed by the United States Congress,” he said.
Democrats are struggling to unite.
Democrats were trying to present a united front Wednesday. That didn’t exactly happen.
The plan was initially complicated by Washington state Rep. Marie Grusenkamp Perez’s comments criticizing another Democrat, Illinois Rep. Chuy Garcia. She said the longtime Chicago politician, who is retiring, did not allow enough primaries to be held when choosing his successor.
Six Democrats then joined Republicans in voting in favor of reopening the government.
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him at @ZachSchermele on X and @zachschermele.bsky.social on Bluesky..
