271-158. Frankly, with that margin, they can probably pass another one in a few weeks’ time if negotiations with Reid on a long-term budget break down yet again.

While the last short-term spending bill received nearly unanimous support from the Republican Conference on March 1 (only six opposed), 54 House Republicans peeled off in opposition to the latest short-term bill, with many conservatives taking a stand against funding the government on an incremental basis. Without support from 85 House Democrats, the bill could have failed…

This spending bill includes $6 billion worth of cuts compared to 2010 spending levels, cutting 25 programs for a savings of $3.5 billion and eliminating $2.6 billion in earmarks that were automatically renewed in the CR approved by the Democratic-controlled Congress last December.

Among those voting no: Michele Bachmann, Jason Chaffetz, Jeff Flake, Dean Heller, Steve King, Thad McCotter, Ron Paul, Mike Pence, and Allen West, who wondered when Congress will begin showing “adult leadership” on spending. To put that in perspective, note that the $6 billion in cuts proposed in today’s three-week bill exceeds the amount of cuts proposed in the Democrats’ budget for the rest of the year.

These short-term funding resolutions are passed without any riders related to Planned Parenthood, PBS, etc, so that Senate Democrats won’t choke on them. House Republicans haven’t forgotten about NPR, though, so the Rules Committee is planning to meet tomorrow and write a clean bill to defund the organization. (It’ll surely die in the Senate.) I’ve already gotten an e-mail from an lefty noting that this is the sort of thing the GOP is consumed with at a moment when half the world is on fire and the government’s facing a shutdown. Bear that logic in mind tomorrow when Obama’s NCAA Final Four picks — about which he’s taping a segment today — are revealed on ESPN.