U.S. Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree voted for a temporary government funding plan that the House passed Friday ahead of a midnight deadline to avert a shutdown that would have frozen pay for federal workers in Maine and other states ahead of the holidays.
The Republican-controlled House started voting on the stopgap measure around 5 p.m. Friday and then sent it to the Senate for approval following hours of negotiations made necessary by the House defeating Thursday night a bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump that included a suspension of the debt limit.
The House passed the plan that does not suspend the debt ceiling in a 366-34 vote, with 29 members not voting. The Senate had not yet voted on the bill as of 6:15 p.m. Friday.
Lawmakers defied Trump, who takes office in January, after he doubled down on his demand earlier Friday for any stopgap deal to suspend the debt ceiling and said he welcomed a shutdown if Congress would not agree. But more than three dozen Republicans joined most Democrats in voting down Thursday a bill that included a two-year suspension of the debt limit capping how much the government can borrow to meet its existing obligations.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, facing threats to his speakership from fiscal conservatives while trying to win over enough Democrats, huddled with Republicans before unveiling a new plan Friday that did not suspend the debt ceiling while funding the government at current levels through March. It also includes $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.
For Maine, the temporary funding measure includes $325 million for disaster relief, $15 million for agricultural-related disaster relief and $10.5 million to reimburse the state for emergency repairs to roads and bridges.
Golden, a moderate representing Maine’s 2nd District, and Pingree, a progressive representing the 1st District, both voted Thursday against that bill. Earlier in the week, Johnson had presented a 1,500-page bipartisan agreement to fund the government into March 2025 that included about $100 billion in disaster aid for states hit by hurricanes this year. But then Trump and Elon Musk, his pick to lead a new “government efficiency” agency, called for legislators to reject that plan by arguing it had excessive spending.
Trump called for any Republicans who do not support his preferred plan to face primaries, as he seeks to avoid tough negotiations next year over lifting the nation’s borrowing capacity. He wrote on social media Friday that “Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling.”
Golden said the Friday deal excluded provisions he opposed in Johnson’s initial proposal that would have raised lawmakers’ pay by 3.8 percent, or a $6,600 increase to the $174,000 that members of Congress make annually. The initial plan had a GOP-backed provision that Golden said would make taxpayer dollars fund a larger share of lawmakers’ health insurance premiums.
By approving Friday’s bill, Golden said “we’re simply ensuring we avoid a disruptive and costly government shutdown, supporting those who have experienced natural disasters — including at home in Maine — and extending the Farm Bill to provide stability for American farmers.”
Pingree said Friday she was ready to support the initial proposal earlier this week, noting it also included water system protections and pediatric cancer research funding. But Pingree said Johnson was trying to appease Trump and Musk with a debt ceiling increase meant to “to clear the runway for massive tax cuts for the wealthy.”
“The dysfunction and uncertainty we — and the American people — endured over the past few days thanks to Republicans, Donald Trump and Elon Musk was entirely avoidable,” Pingree said in a statement Friday night. “Because Democrats stood our ground and fought back against Trump’s ludicrous 11th hour demands, the debt ceiling addition was dropped from the bill that was put before us tonight.”
Lawmakers were scrambling to avoid a shutdown that would close Acadia National Park during its slower winter season and result in furloughs for some of the 11,000-plus federal employees in Maine. Essential workers, such as Coast Guard members, Border Patrol agents, airport security screeners and air traffic controllers, would stay on duty but not receive pay until a shutdown ends, as happened during Trump’s first term when the longest shutdown on record stretched for 35 days between December 2018 and January 2019.