House Narrowly Passes Stopgap Measure

The House passed legislation early Friday morning aimed at keeping the government funded well into November in a close 219-203 vote.

The resolution’s passage follows Republican leadership’s embarrassing failure to pass a similar bill earlier in the week, an outcome attributed to 48 conservative members who found that the bill came at too high a price tag.

However, 24 of the Republican members shifted Friday morning after GOP leaders rallied and added an additional $100 million in cuts, set to be made from the loan program linked to the scandalized solar-power company Solyndra.

Despite passing through the lower chamber, Senate Democrats have pronounced the resolution dead on arrival, citing the lack of adequate disaster relief funds. The House passed bill includes $3.65 billion in aid, coupled with over $1 billion in DOE offsets, but Democrats have requested $6 billion.

FEMA is set to run out of funding by Monday.

Without Congressional action, the government is set to shut down next Friday. Senate Democrats have suggested canceling next week’s recess to focus on the bill.