The House on Thursday blocked an attempt by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to pass a temporary spending bill to keep the government open until Feb. 8 without any new money for President Trump’s border wall.
Pelosi, the California Democrat who will be House speaker next year, used a special procedure to call up the measure, which passed the Senate on Wednesday. But Republicans voted to table it, in a 187-170 vote.
The GOP majority, heeding Trump’s wishes, is planning to introduce a bill to fund the government but with an amendment that would add $5 billion for the wall and $8 billion for disaster relief for states affected by recent hurricanes and wildfires.
Trump told a group of Republican leaders Thursday he will not sign a bill to fund the government if it excludes border wall funding. But it’s not yet clear his bill can pass the House, and if it does, it’s unlikely to pass the Senate.
Without any bill, several federal agencies won’t have authority to spend money after Friday, and thousands of employees will have to be furloughed until Congress can act.
