House passes spending bills with some GOP support
The House of Representatives is passing several government spending bills this week and garnering some Republican support, although these bills are likely to fail in the Senate. President Trump and congressional Democrats are currently at an impasse over the partial government shutdown, with Mr. Trump refusing to sign any legislation which does not provide funding for a border wall. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that he will not put any bills that won't get Mr. Trump's signature on the Senate floor.
Nonetheless, the Democratic-majority House is plowing ahead with funding bills without wall funding. On Thursday, the House passed a financial services spending bill which would fund the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service, with eight Republicans joining Democrats to approve the bill.
The House passed two more bills to fund the government last week, with the Transportation, HUD and Related Agencies appropriations bills passing with 12 Republican votes, and the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations bills passing with 10 Republican votes. All Democrats voted to approve these bills.
Eight House Republicans have voted for all three bills: Reps. John Katko and Elise Stefanik of New York, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan and Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon.
Hurd and Katko represent districts which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Fitzpatrick's district supported Mr. Trump by less than a percentage point in 2016, and Herrera Beutler and Upton's districts supported him by less than 10 points. Kinzinger, Walden and Stefanik's districts supported Mr. Trump overwhelmingly.
Reps. Rodney Davis of Illinois and Chris Smith of New Jersey joined those eight in voting for the agriculture bill, and Reps. Peter King of New York and Steve Stivers of Ohio joined the others in voting for the transportation bill.
Although Mr. Trump has claimed that Republicans are unified on keeping the government closed without a deal on a border wall, some senators are showing signs of dissent. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, posted a video to Twitter saying there is no need for the shutdown.
Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Trump ally, said he doesn't know what the path forward here is.
"I have never been more depressed about moving forward than I am right now. I just don't see a pathway forward. Somebody has got to get some energy to fix this," Graham said.
Rebecca Kaplan contributed reporting
