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President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan to prevent a Christmas-time government shutdown, instead giving House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans a number of deadlines by which federal funding would run out. essentially renegotiated the deal before the end of the day.
President Trump’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,” President Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said in a statement.
The president-elect has made a largely unrealistic proposal that combines some continuation of government funding with a more controversial provision to raise the debt ceiling, which his own party has routinely rejected. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they wrote.
Democrats blamed Republican revolt over the stopgap measure, which also would have provided about $100.4 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 and harm ordinary Americans across this country,” the House Republican leader said.
“A deal is a deal,” Jeffries said, adding that by withdrawing from the deal, “House Republicans will be responsible for all the harm that will befall the American people.”
The massive 1,500-page bill was already on the verge of collapse as far-right conservatives, egged on by Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk, refused to increase spending. Musk rejected the plan as soon as it was announced late Tuesday night.
Rank-and-file MPs complained about the special measures, which included the first pay increases in more than a decade, a shock after one of the least productive and chaotic parliaments in modern times.
The budget cuts come even after adding about $100.4 billion in much-needed disaster relief in the wake of hurricanes and other natural disasters that hit the state this year, as well as $10 billion in economic aid to farmers. It failed to gain support from Republicans.
Many Republicans were waiting for President Trump to signal whether they should vote yes or no.
“This should not pass,” Musk posted on his social media site X early Wednesday morning.
One lawmaker said his office phone line was flooded with calls from constituents.
“The phone was ringing off the hook,” said Rep. Andy Barr, R-Kentucky. “The people who elected us are listening to Elon Musk.”
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.
Donald Trump vowed to take action on a range of issues on his first day in office.
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 the Republican leadership will have to rely on President Trump’s blessing to finally pass any legislation.
Musk, head of the Trump administration’s new Office of Government Efficiency, said: “Any Representative or Senator who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out within two years!” he warned.
This is not an idle threat from Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, who could easily use the US PAC to fund President Trump’s victory and make or break his political career.
Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland said this is a problem of “an oligarchy where a few wealthy people control everything” and that everyone is forced to live in fear of them.
Democrats, who negotiated the final version with Johnson and Senate Republican leaders, are expected to provide enough support to ensure passage, as is often the case with large bipartisan bills.
But President Trump’s new demands for a debt limit will be a difficult test for Mr. Johnson, who has worked hard to get closer to President-elect Johnson, who ended up opposing the plan he fought so hard for. It became.
President Trump later posted that he was advocating for the debt ceiling, saying, “I will ‘fight to the end.'”
The nation’s debt ceiling expires in 2025, so President Trump appears to want to take the issue off the table before returning to the White House, which is a reasonable idea, but negotiations usually involve It takes a month.
The last House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, worked with President Joe Biden for months on raising the debt ceiling. Despite striking a bipartisan deal to cut spending in exchange for additional borrowing capacity, House Republicans said it didn’t go far enough and ultimately cost Mr. McCarthy his job.
Now, President Trump wants Prime Minister Johnson to pass a debt ceiling extension about 48 hours before a partial government shutdown.
Meanwhile, the bipartisan package that President Trump vetoed would have extended 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.
But the inch-thick bill goes beyond regular funding and is in addition to several other measures.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida used a profanity to call it essentially a junk sandwich.
And there’s also a pay raise.
The bill would repeal the pay freeze provisions and allow for adjustments of up to 3.8%, or $6,600, in 2025, potentially bringing lawmakers’ annual salaries to $180,600, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The last time MPs received a raise was in 2009.
Other provisions include full federal funding to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bridge collapsed after being struck by a cargo ship that reported losing power shortly before the collision. Federal taxpayers are reimbursed through insurance proceeds and litigation proceeds.
There is also a provision that would transfer land on the site of the former RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia, which could lead to construction of a new stadium for the Washington Commanders.
In the medical field, the bill would expand coverage of telehealth appointments for Medicare enrollees and make it easier for pharmacy managers (the companies that negotiate how and what drugs are covered by insurance plans) to close these deals. The aim is to control the amount of benefits provided to children.
The bill also includes provisions focused on countering China, including an expansion of Biden’s executive order restricting investment in countries that pose a national security threat to the United States. Halting China’s high-tech ambitions is one of the few issues that enjoys broad support from both Republicans and Democrats in Washington.
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