Democrats in the House of Representatives killed a spending deal approved by President-elect Donald Trump with the help of conservative Republicans after Elon Musk scuttled the original bipartisan deal.
The bill failed with all but two Democrats and 38 Republicans voting against it, and 172 Republicans voting for it.
House Republicans said they had struck a deal on a short-term funding bill 24 hours after Musk and Trump derailed a resolution and steered the government into a shutdown the weekend before Christmas.
But congressional Democrats called the plan that Trump’s billionaire deputy touted hours earlier “laughable.” House Democrats were heard chanting “hell no” as they met to review it on Thursday.
News of a newly hashed-out deal arrived one day after the world’s wealthiest person and the incoming president commanded members of Congress to reject a bipartisan stop-gap funding bill as lawmakers prepared to vote.
“It’s not serious, it’s laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are steering us towards a government shutdown,” Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Thursday of the Trump-backed deal.
“It’s an absolute slap in the face,” Democratic congreswoman Jill Tokuda told The Independent. “It’s disgusting that they would try to use this as a tool to increase the debt limit for two years, which we know will ultimately result in tax credits for the uber wealthy on the backs of our working people.”
Congressman Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, specifically criticized lifting the debt limit.
“This is a complete bulls*** attempt to try to allow Donald Trump to eliminate the debt ceiling for two years and he can give away all this money to all his billionaire friends,” he told The Independent.
Trump had called on lawmakers to abolish the debt ceiling, a limit set by lawmakers to determine how much money the federal government can borrow to pay its bills. It was last raised in 2023 through January 1, 2025.
A new deal proposed extending the “very unnecessary” ceiling through January 30, 2027, Trump said.
“Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish,” Trump said.
Tennessee Republican congressman Tim Burchett told The Independent that the debt ceiling is “an arbitrary thing.”
“And reality is, I don’t know why they ever put a debt ceiling on anything,” he said. He later voted against the legislation.
Asked whether Musk and his incoming “Department of Government Efficiency” co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy will have an impact on an upcoming fight for House Speaker, he told The Independent: “Of course, they have to. I mean, they’re prominent people, and they have very big checkbooks.”
The new proposal would have stripped out provisions to criminalize the distribution of pornographic deepfakes, and cut funding for treatments of sick cell disease, pediatric cancer research, and breast and cervical cancer detection, among other provisions.
“Why would you cut funding for nutritional assistance ... for seniors, for veterans?” Jeffries said in remarks on the House floor.
“Everything that was there to help with healthcare, the measures that were included to attempt to help the average family — they're all gone,” Democratic congresswoman Marcy Kaptur told The Independent.
“Is he going to own the United States before it's all over?” she wondered of Musk.
“He has a lot of personal interests here, and he's not elected to anything,” she added. “Some people are calling him the president and President Trump the vice president. I have to do some homework on who this man really is.”
Conservative opposition also helped sink the bill, with Republican congressman Chip Roy railing against the legislation on the floor, which led to Democrats applauding him.
The president-elect had said that the country would be “far better off closing up for a period of time” than agreeing to a deal that was supported by both Republicans and Democrats until Musk spent Wednesday firing off dozens of social media posts condemning the deal and threatening to fund primary challengers against Republicans who voted for it.
“‘Shutting down’ the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill,” Musk said.
Congress has until midnight Friday to approve a spending bill that would avert a government shutdown, with potential employee furloughs and service interruptions across federal agencies.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson spent much of Thursday negotiating a deal that extended government funding at its current levels until March, more than a month into Trump’s administration and a new Congress.
This shows how much your voice matters!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2024
And having a President like @realDonaldTrump means that your voice is finally heard. https://t.co/0a7QDJx9zt
On his Truth Social, Trump lambasted Roy for “getting in the way” for “the sake of some cheap publicity for himself.”
“Republican obstructionists have to be done away with,” Trump added.
In another post, he called Roy “just another ambitious guy, with no talent.”
“By the way, how’s Bob Good doing?” said Trump, referencing the Virginia congresswoman who lost a primary election to a Trump-endorsed challenger; Good, like Roy, had supported Trump’s former rival Ron DeSantis.
“I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary,” Trump said Thursday. “He won’t have a chance!”
The vote puts Johnson in danger. Republicans will have only 220 seats in the House next year, with a handful of members leaving to work in Trump’s administration. Only a few Republicans opposing his speakership could prevent him from leading the House of Representatives.
Eric Garcia contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
