How did House Republicans vote to end the 2013 government shutdown on October 16 2013?

1. Numbers in the room: a simple tally hides conflicting summaries that matter

The central factual claim is numeric: the House approved the funding measure 285–144 on October 16, 2013. Multiple contemporary sources state the final margin as 285 in favor and 144 opposed, which is the baseline fact of record ^{[1] [4]}. Disagreement arises when parsing how many Republicans crossed party lines. Several accounts report that 87 Republicans voted for the measure while 144 Republicans opposed it, meaning most yea votes were Democrats plus a Republican minority ^{[2] [3]}. One analysis in the set incorrectly inverted the party breakdown, attributing 144 Republican yes votes and 285 no votes to Republicans; that inversion conflicts with roll-call reporting and the consensus narrative ^[1].

2. Reconciling the sources: which accounts align with the congressional record?

The roll-call summary for the 113th Congress and contemporary press pieces converge on the same resolution: 285 total yes votes to 144 no votes, with Democrats united in support and a substantial minority of House Republicans—approximately 87—voting to end the shutdown ^{[2] [3]}. The account that describes Republicans voting “144 in favor and 285 against” appears to have reversed the parties and thus contradicts the roll-call narrative; the reversal is a factual error when compared to multiple records provided here ^[1]. The most consistent picture across sources is bipartisan passage driven by Democratic unity and a split GOP.

3. Who crossed the aisle and who dug in — the political profile matters

Reporting at the time catalogued that the Republicans who voted yes tended to be moderates from competitive districts or allies of GOP leadership, while those who opposed were mostly conservative hardliners and some high-profile figures running for other offices. The yes cohort included members who had previously supported compromise measures, and the no cohort included prominent conservatives like Paul Ryan and several Tea Party-aligned members who viewed the deal as capitulation on issues like health-care implementation and debt-limit leverage ^[3]. This split underscores that the October 16 vote reflected intra-party ideological and electoral calculations more than simple partisan alignment.

4. Procedure and precedent: why the vote was notable beyond the numbers

The October 16 vote violated informal House norms described by conservatives as the Hastert Rule, because leadership brought a bill to the floor that did not command a majority of the Republican conference; instead, the bill passed with a majority of the full House thanks to Democratic support and the GOP minority defections ^[4]. The bill itself was a Senate-amended vehicle—the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014—that restored funding until mid-January and suspended the debt ceiling until early February; it then moved to the president’s desk and was signed on October 17, concluding the 16-day shutdown ^{[4] [2]}.

5. The arc after the vote: short-term respite, long-term contention

Sources emphasize the vote produced a temporary resolution: government operations resumed and an immediate fiscal crisis was averted, but many of the underlying conflicts—over health-care law implementation, debt-limit leverage, and budget strategy—remained unresolved. Commentators at the time warned the agreement made few concessions to the dissenting Republicans, setting up the possibility of future showdowns; that practical reality is reflected in contemporaneous reportage and legislative summaries ^{[1] [4]}. The narrowness of GOP support and the political cost for some members foreshadowed continuing intra-party tension.

6. Reading the sources: bias, error, and what to trust

The collection of analyses provided includes consistent roll-call summaries and a few contradictory or non-relevant items. The most reliable elements are the vote tallies and roll-call data ^{[2] [3]}. One source contains an obvious inversion of party counts and must be treated as erroneous ^[1]; other items in the set are tangential or technical and do not address the House breakdown directly ^{[5] [6] [7]}. When reconstructing legislative history, rely on the roll-call and contemporary reputable news accounts: they show a bipartisan passage, 285–144 overall with roughly 87 Republicans supporting the bill and 144 Republicans opposing it ^{[2] [3]}.