Washington DC - The US House of Representatives approved a stopgap plan Tuesday to avert a government shutdown that would pile more pain on the economic chaos marring President Donald Trump's early weeks in office.

The Republican-led chamber agreed in a largely party-line vote to keep the government funded through September 30 – giving Trump the summer months to steer his agenda of tax cuts, mass deportations, and boosted energy production through Congress.

The drama now moves to the Senate, which will still need to provide its own rubber stamp before Friday night's midnight shutdown deadline, but the bill's prospects in the upper chamber are on a knife edge.

Republicans were nevertheless jubilant, praising Speaker Mike Johnson, who had to sell the package to backbenchers skeptical of stopgaps – known as continuing resolutions (CRs) – which mostly freeze spending rather than making cuts.

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Congress needs a CR because it is so evenly split that it has been unable to approve the 12 separate bills that allocate full 2025 budgets for various federal agencies.

The threat of shutdown comes as Wall Street is in free fall chaos following Trump's mass government layoffs and his international trade war with Canada, Mexico, and China.

If the Senate fails to follow the House, there will be more economic misery as the government grinds to a halt, potentially leading to tens of thousands of public employees being sent home without pay as federal agencies shutter.

Democrats are mostly opposed to the 99-page CR, which would drop domestic spending by about $13 billion while increasing defense spending by about $6 billion.

While Republicans call it a "clean" CR, Democrats argue that it is full of partisan ideological add-ons that make it a non-starter.

Among the most contentious is a provision surrendering congressional authority to block Trump's tariffs, which were imposed under emergency economic powers, meaning any member can force a vote to terminate them.

In the Senate, Democrats are under pressure to offer strong opposition to Trump's agenda but are wary of blocking the CR, fearing that they would be blamed for the resulting shutdown.

Republicans have to clear anything the House passes by a 60-vote threshold, and one conservative has indicated he will be a no, meaning Majority Leader John Thune needs the support of at least eight Democrats.