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Which House members voted for the FY2025 continuing resolution that led to the shutdown?
Executive Summary
The House vote on the FY2025 continuing resolution passed 217–213 on March 11, 2025, carried almost entirely by House Republicans (216 yeas) plus one Democrat; that lone Democratic yea has been identified as Rep. Jared Golden of Maine in contemporary reporting. The roll call and related reporting show a sharply partisan divide, a handful of Republican defections, and subsequent Senate action and political maneuvering that still left funding disputes unresolved [1] [2] [3].
1. How the math fell — the decisive 217 votes that passed the CR
The recorded House roll call shows the continuing resolution cleared the chamber by 217 to 213 on March 11, 2025, with the affirmative side composed of 216 Republicans and one Democrat, and the negative side of 212 Democrats and one Republican. That arithmetic made each Republican yea crucial because the majority relied almost entirely on GOP unity; a single GOP defection would have imperiled passage. The vote tally and categorical party breakdown appear consistently across the official roll call and contemporaneous summaries, which record the bill as H.R. 1968 and note its advancement to the Senate and its eventual enactment into law on March 15, 2025 [1] [2].
2. Who crossed the aisle — the lone Democratic yea and Republican dissents
Multiple contemporary accounts identify Rep. Jared Golden (D–ME) as the only Democrat who voted for the FY2025 continuing resolution, which made the GOP majority less fragile for that floor action. Reporting also documents a small number of Republicans who changed positions under political pressure, and at least one Republican who voted against the measure. Press coverage names several Republicans who switched to yea after negotiation and pressure, with outlets noting figures such as Rep. Andy Biggs (R–AZ) among those whose votes were pivotal in the internal GOP dynamics that produced the 216 Republican yeas [3] [1] [4].
3. From House passage to Senate action — cloture and the path forward
After the House passed H.R. 1968, the Senate moved to consider the matter; a cloture vote recorded 62–38 in favor of proceeding on the measure. That Senate-level arithmetic required a coalition of both parties to advance the bill, contrasting with the House’s near-unanimous GOP support. The Senate cloture count demonstrates that, while the House margin depended on Republican cohesion plus one Democratic defection, the Senate required broader bipartisanship and produced a different alignment of votes, underscoring the institutional differences that shape final outcomes on appropriations and continuing resolutions [5].
4. Why the CR still didn’t settle funding — the shutdown context and persistent disputes
Even after passage in the House and Senate action, the political dispute over funding levels and policy riders persisted, contributing to a shutdown scenario in which short-term measures and competing GOP proposals failed to produce a durable agreement. House conservatives and factions such as the House Freedom Caucus pushed for longer or deeper spending constraints, while appropriators and many Democrats warned against underfunding key programs and omitting disaster relief. Those intra-GOP pressures, plus Senate deliberations and the partisan geography of votes, help explain why passage of a House CR did not by itself prevent funding lapses or fully resolve funding negotiations [6] [3].
5. Conflicting records and reporting — where sources converge and where they don’t
Official roll-call transcripts list individual votes and show 217 yeas but some early summaries omitted the specific Democratic yes; later reporting filled that gap by naming Rep. Golden. The official Clerk record and Congress.gov entries confirm the vote date and bill number, while press outlets provided narrative context about who switched and why. These materials converge on the numerical outcome and party breakdown but differ in immediacy and in how they attribute motive and pressure behind individual votes. Readers should note that contemporaneous accounts emphasize different actors depending on the outlet’s interview sources and focus, creating varying emphasis on who was pivotal [1] [2] [3].
6. What to watch next — political motives, agendas, and forward risks
The vote sequence reveals clear institutional and factional agendas: House Republican leadership pursued a CR to advance funding but faced pressure from conservative members demanding longer-term or deeper cuts, while Democrats largely opposed the CR as presented. The presence of a lone Democratic yea and a small set of Republican defections highlights both intra-party discipline and cross-party calculations. Observers should watch subsequent appropriations text and floor maneuvers for evidence of concessions to House conservatives or Democratic demands, since those shifts will determine whether further short-term CRs, a negotiated omnibus, or renewed shutdown risk becomes the dominant outcome [6] [3] [2].