President Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan to prevent a Christmas-time government shutdown, instead calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to file an essential bill days before a deadline for federal funding to run dry. instructed them to renegotiate.
The president-elect’s surprise appearance in the debate and new demands have thrown Congress into chaos as lawmakers prepare to finish work and head home for the holidays. That has left Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrambling to come up with a new plan by Friday’s deadline to keep the government functioning.
“The Republican Party must get smarter and tougher,” Trump and J.D. Vance said in a statement.
President Trump has made a largely unrealistic proposal that combines some continuation of government funding with a more controversial provision to raise the debt ceiling, something his own party has routinely rejected. . “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they wrote.
Democrats criticized Republicans for the stopgap measure, which also would have provided about $100 billion in disaster aid to states hit by Hurricane Helen Milton and other natural disasters.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“And they hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. When you break a bipartisan agreement, you bear the consequences.”
1,500 pages as far-right conservatives rejected the spending increases, spurred by President Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk, who rejected the plan as soon as it was announced Tuesday night. The enormous bill was already on the verge of collapse.
Rank-and-file lawmakers complained about the extra spending, including the first pay raises in more than a decade, a shock after one of the least productive and chaotic Congresses in modern times. Many Republicans were waiting for President Trump to signal whether they should vote yes or no.
Republican support for cutting the budget, even with the addition of $10 billion in economic aid to farmers on top of roughly $100.4 billion in much-needed disaster aid in the wake of hurricanes and other natural disasters that hit states this year. I couldn’t get it.
“This should not pass,” Musk posted on Twitter/X early Wednesday morning.
This result comes as no surprise to Johnson. Mr. Johnson, like other Republican House speakers before him, has been unable to persuade the majority to comply with the day-to-day needs of running the federal government, which he hopes to cut.
All of this points to how difficult it will be for Republicans to control the House, Senate and White House majorities next year and unite and lead the country. And it highlights how much Johnson and Republican leaders will have to rely on President Trump’s blessing to finally pass any legislation.
“What does President Trump want from the Republican Party? Will he vote CR or shut down the government? There is a lack of direction and confusion,” said retiring Sen. Mitt Romney. said in a post to X.
Musk, who heads the new Department of Government Efficiency and is leading the attack on the bill, said: “Any member of the House or Senate who votes in favor of this outrageous spending bill will be voted out within two years. You deserve it!” he warned.
Democrats, who negotiated the final version with Johnson and Senate Republican leaders, are expected to provide enough support for him to ensure passage, as is often the case with big-ticket bills. Federal funding will run out at midnight Friday.
“The sooner Congress acts, the better,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The final package extends existing government programs and services at their current operating levels for several more months, through March 14, 2025.
Congress’s failure to pass an annual spending bill to fund all of the federal government’s various agencies, from the Defense Department and national security agencies to health, human services, transportation, and other routine domestic services. Therefore, emergency measures are required. With the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Congress only avoided the problem by passing a temporary funding bill that expires on Friday.
