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US House Struggles to Advance Trump-Backed Deal to End Shutdown
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By Reuters
Published 54 minutes ago on
February 3, 2026

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA ) speaks with reporters as he departs meeting with members of the House Rules Committee, at the U.S. Capitol on day three of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 2, 2026. (Reuters/Al Drago)

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The U.S. House of Representatives struggled on Tuesday to advance a spending bill that would end a government shutdown as two Republicans joined Democrats to oppose it in a procedural vote.

The legislation would fund defense, healthcare, labor, education, housing and other agencies until October, and temporarily extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security while lawmakers negotiate possible changes to immigration enforcement.

The deal passed the Senate last week by a wide bipartisan margin and has the backing of President Donald Trump.

But in the House, Republicans who control the chamber were coming up short in a procedural vote, with 215 lawmakers voting for and 216 lawmakers voting against bringing it up for passage. Republican leaders held the vote open as they searched for a way to turn the tide.

Democrats are demanding new restraints on Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics, following the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.

House Republicans have only a 218-214 majority, meaning they can lose only one Republican vote if Democrats unite against it.

A prompt end to the partial government shutdown that took effect on Saturday would avert widespread disruption to government services and the economy. The most recent shutdown lasted a record 43 days in October and November, furloughing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and costing the U.S. economy an estimated $11 billion.

(Reporting by David Morgan and Richard Cowan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Chizu Nomiyama )

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