Redlight Congress
© Adam Jeffery/CNBC
The House on Friday passed a six-bill, $1.3 trillion package that funds the vast majority of the federal government's discretionary spending programs for fiscal 2021 and covers big-ticket areas such as defense, health and education.

The House voted 217-197 to pass the bill. Democrats suffered about a dozen defections, and no Republicans voted for the measure.

Democrats touted billions of additional dollars for medical research and emergency spending in the measure to try to support recovery efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Think about who we need to benefit in this institution, what our responsibilities are," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut Democrat. "Our responsibilities are to the working families, the essential workers today who are on the frontlines trying to just ... get by."

The bill won't make it through the GOP-controlled Senate, and the White House threatened a veto.

Despite the action on Friday, lawmakers are headed toward another stopgap bill to keep the government running past Sept. 30 and avert a potential shutdown a month before November's election.

Senate appropriators haven't advanced any of their 2021 spending bills through committee. The focus in the Senate in recent weeks has been on negotiations over another coronavirus relief package.