House passes spending bill, setting up showdown in the Senate

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 2 December 2021

The House on Thursday evening passed a bill that funds the government through Feb. 18, in an attempt to avert a shutdown set to occur Friday at midnight.

The measure passed with a 221-212 vote, and it now heads to the Senate, where conservative Republicans have threatened to block the bill as a way of protesting against vaccine mandates for large companies. The bill has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), with Schumer saying it was "not easy to reach this deal," adding, "let's be clear, if there is a shutdown, it will be a Republican, anti-vaccine shutdown."

Before the House vote, President Biden told reporters he spoke with Schumer and McConnell, and unless "somebody decides to be totally erratic," he doesn't think there will be a government shutdown.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.