Senate bill to avert partial shutdown passes key hurdle

​​The Democrat-led Senate moved another stopgap bill past its first hurdle in an effort to avert a partial government shutdown later this week, setting up House Speaker Mike Johnson and his rebellious conference with the task of preventing a closure.

Mr. Johnson’s path to avert a shutdown is set for a collision course with conservatives who have vowed not to support the stopgap bill, or fund the government, unless more-stringent border policies are enacted.

The speaker, along with the other congressional leaders, is set to meet with President Biden on Wednesday to discuss the White House’s $110 billion funding request for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, which has so far been snarled by negotiations to include conservative border policies.

Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, faces threats to oust him if he accepts the Senate’s border plan, which among other sticking points for conservatives, would allow migrants crossing the border illegally to be immediately eligible for work permits, and allow up to 5,000 migrants to cross the border daily before new expulsion powers kick in.

The speaker has signaled that he does not support the deal and would only back it if it includes former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Fractured GOP support means that Mr. Johnson will likely have to turn to Democrats to pass the two-tiered extension, which has funding deadlines of March 1 and March 8. Government funding is slated to run out on Friday.

Lawmakers in the upper chamber voted 68 to 13 in favor of the legislation, which was enough to pass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to end debate. Tuesday evening’s floor action teed up a final vote on the bill for later in the week.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said Tuesday that while most lawmakers want to avert a shutdown, a group of “hard-line extremists seem dead-set on making a shutdown a reality.”

“With little leverage to actually enact their agenda, these extremists have tried again and again to bully the speaker, bully their own Republican colleagues, and bully the country into accepting their hard-right views,” he said.

The conservative House Freedom Caucus attempted to derail the push to stop a shutdown by demanding that Mr. Johnson walk away from his $1.66 trillion top-line spending deal last week because the deal did not go far enough to cut spending.

Members of the caucus have since balked at the stopgap bill, with many saying that the legislation, which continues funding levels previously set by Democrats, is “what surrender looks like.”

Congress’ likely third extension of government funding this fiscal year comes as conservative lawmakers have vowed to pass spending bills one at a time to fund the government, rather than turning to a colossal omnibus spending package as in years past.

Lawmakers have not passed any spending legislation since late October, however.

Rep. Bob Good, Virginia Republican and Freedom Caucus chairman, said the House should continue to pass spending bills instead of turning to another stopgap.

“Republicans should be united in reducing spending and refusing to repeat the failures of the past,” Mr. Good said on X. “The House majority has to matter!”