Well, folks, we made it through another hectic Friday on Capitol Hill as the House of Representatives struggled to get a spending bill passed. That bill is now with the Senate, which will have to pass it before a midnight EST deadline.
Here’s a summary of how it all unfolded, plus some other bits from the day in politics:
The House passed a spending bill hours before the deadline for a government shutdown. The continuing resolution passed with 366 yea votes and 34 nays.
House Republicans proposed government funding legislation that will require a two-thirds majority to pass the chamber, and does not include an increase to the debt ceiling, Punchbowl News reports. That meant the bill will need at least some Democratic votes to reach the Senate.
JD Vance and Russ Vought, an author of Project 2025 whom Donald Trump nominated to lead a powerful White House office, were scheduled to meet this morning with lawmakers in the rightwing Freedom Caucus, Punchbowl News reports.
Donald Trump, warned the EU that it will face trade tariffs on its exports to the US unless its member states buy more American oil and gas.
Donald Trump said that if a shutdown happens, ‘let it begin now’. In an early Friday morning post on his Truth Social social media platform, Trump said: “Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
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House speaker Mike Johnson says that he was in “constant contact” with Donald Trump as the House worked to vote on a spending bill. During a post-vote press conference, Johnson said that Trump is “happy about this outcome as well”.
He also emphasized that this vote was a necessary step toward getting Americans the aid that they need, especially after a devastating hurricane season, telling reporters:
This was a necessary step to bridge the gap to put us into that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final spending decisions for 2025. We also in this bill took care of Americans who desperately needed and deserved the assistance … We are excited about this outcome. We are grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing, and having gotten this down now as the last order of business for the year, we’re set up for a big and important new start in January.
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Here is a breakdown of how the vote on the House spending bill went down:
196 Democrats voted to pass the bill
170 Republicans voted to pass the bill
34 Republicans rejected the bill
The debt ceiling was not raised despite Donald Trump’s demand for the cap to increase. The bill is now headed to the Senate, which has until midnight to pass the spending bill.
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The House has passed a spending bill, averting a government shutdown. The continuing resolution passed with 366 yea votes and 34 nays.
As we await the result of the House vote, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, announced that Joe Biden supports the proposed legislation. In a statement released on Friday, Jean-Pierre said:
A government shutdown heading into the holidays would mean service members and air traffic controllers go to work without pay, essential government services for hardworking Americans would be paused, and economic disruption would occur.
Following an order by President-elect Trump, yesterday Republicans walked away from a bipartisan deal and threatened to shut down the government at the 11th hour in order to pave the way to provide tax breaks for billionaires. This revised legislation does not do that.
While it does not include everything we sought, it includes disaster relief that the President requested for the communities recovering from the storm, eliminates the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires, and would ensure that the government can continue to operate at full capacity. President Biden supports moving this legislation forward and ensuring that the vital services the government provides for hardworking Americans – from issuing Social Security checks to processing benefits for veterans – can continue as well as to grant assistance for communities that were impacted by devastating hurricanes.
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A vote on the house’s new continuing resolution is under way. If it passes, the government will avoid a shutdown.
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Chip Roy, a Republic representative from Texas, announced that he will be voting no on the recently introduced bill to keep the government funded.
In a post on X, Roy said:
On this third “funding” CR – progress having been made on future cuts/debt ceiling notwithstanding – I must vote no. $110bb unpaid-for, extension of food stamps with no reform, gimmicks to pay for health extenders, breaks 72 hour rule … More of the same.
The House is expected to vote on the continuing resolution (CR) in the next few minutes, according to a schedule released by Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip.
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Here is the tentative schedule for today’s vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government until a full appropriations bill is passed, per Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip. Based on this schedule, it should be coming in less than 45 minutes.
This schedule is in eastern standard time:
At approximately 4:45 p.m., the House will reconvene and debate H.R.__ – American Relief Act, 2025.
At approximately 5:00 – 5:30 p.m., the House will take a vote.
Next vote predicted: at approximately 5:00 – 5:30 p.m., on passage of the CR.
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The newly introduced government spending bill has been released. Officials are expected to vote on it in the next hour, according to Jake Sherman with Punchbowl News. Clocking in at 118 pages, the bill is a continuing resolution (CR) that would allow the government to fund itself before the full appropriations have been finalized.
You can read the full text here.
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In final speech as Senate GOP leader, Mitch McConnell warns against government shutdown
Mitch McConnell is in his final days as the top Republican in the Senate, and used his last speech on the floor while in the job of minority leader to warn against failing to fund the government.
“I don’t care to count how many time I’ve reminded our colleagues, and our House counterparts, how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it. Recent history doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for interpretation on that one. When you try to use normal government function as a bargaining chip, you pay the political price,” McConnell said.
John Thune of South Dakota will take over the Senate Republican leadership post next year, when the party also assumes the majority in the chamber. McConnell, 82, will continue representing Kentucky in the chamber through 2026. He has not said if he will seek another six-year term in the Senate.
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House Republicans intend to propose government funding legislation that will require a two-thirds majority to pass the chamber, and does not include an increase to the debt ceiling, Punchbowl News reports.
That means the bill will need at least some Democratic votes in order to reach the Senate.
The GOP has not released the funding bill’s text, nor said how it will handle passing disaster relief or aid to farmers – both priorities for many lawmakers.
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Travel industry warns of 'severe economic costs' if government shuts down amid holidays
Congress is flirting with a federal government shutdown right as millions of Americans are hitting the road and heading to the airport ahead of Christmas, and the US Travel Association warns that a shortfall in funding could have significant consequences for the holiday season.
“A prolonged government shutdown threatens holiday travel disruptions that Americans won’t tolerate,” the industry group’s president and CEO, Geoff Freeman, said in a statement.
“It’s hard to see how anyone in Congress wins if they force [Transportation Security Administration] workers, air traffic controllers, and other essential employees to work without pay during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.”
The US economy could suffer “severe economic costs” of $1bn in damage each week that government operations are disrupted, the association warned.
He also warned of economic consequences if Congress fails to approve funds to pay for relief in parts of the country recently afflicted by wildfires and hurricanes:
Research shows that delaying disaster relief funding until 2025 could push recovery efforts into 2026 or beyond. Americans that are suffering deserve better from their elected officials. It’s unconscionable that Congress would head home for the holidays while leaving communities devastated by disasters out in the cold.
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Johnson says afternoon vote on government funding deal 'very likely'
Asked by a reporter whether the House would vote this afternoon on legislation to keep the government open, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, replied: “Very likely, yes.”
Johnson made very brief comments to the press as he walked between meetings, where he also described what will be in the legislation that the GOP is negotiating:
We will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays.
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Mike Johnson: 'We will not have a government shutdown'
Addressing reporters following the House Republicans’ meeting before today’s midnight deadline to avert a government shutdown, House speaker Mike Johnson vowed: “We will not have a government shutdown.”
Johnson said:
We have a unified Republican conference. There’s a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward. I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet ... I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown.”
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Florida’s Democratic representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost criticized the GOP’s reported plans to cut spending next year, saying:
There is no way to cut $2.5tn in spending unless you make cuts to social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
He went on to add:
My parent’s social security check should not be cut to pay for President Elon Musk’s massive billionaire tax cuts.
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Senator-elect Jim Banks of Indiana spoke to reporters after attending a House conference, Politico’s Jordain Carney reports.
“I think they are a long ways away from deciding anything,” Banks said, adding that he is looking forward to being a senator.
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The government is careening toward a shutdown, but you’d never know that at AmericaFest, an annual Turning Point USA conference that feels like a victory lap this year, with TPUSA claiming credit for Trump’s 2024 electoral victory and attempting to stake out its place at the heart of the conservative movement.
In the expo hall, students, rightwing media figures, conservative pastors and vendors mill around swapping promotional materials and basking in the new Trump era.
Nate DeGrave, a Phoenix resident who spent a year in federal lockup for his role in the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, took selfies in the convention hall and told the Guardian he’d come for “the love for America, the patriotism, the love, the support”.
“What I’m really hoping for is some kind of restitution, reparations of some kind,” said DeGrave, who was optimistic that Trump – who has vowed to pardon January 6 defendants on his first day in office – would help restore the reputations and livelihoods of people who participated in the Capitol riot.
“He’s gonna wipe out the last four years.”
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The day so far
The US government is less than 12 hours away from shutting down, and Congress – by which we mean House Republicans – still has no plan to keep it open. But the GOP seems to be nearing one, with reports circulating that GOP leaders including speaker Mike Johnson have proposed legislation to keep funding going until March, and raise the debt ceiling once Donald Trump takes office in exchange for major spending cuts. But there’s no telling if that can pass before the shutdown happens, or at all. At the White House, Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned Republicans for “doing the bidding of their billionaire friends” and said a government shutdown could disrupt the transition to the second Trump administration.
Here’s more on this developing story:
Biden has not personally commented on the spending showdown, but Jean-Pierre said he has been in touch with top Democrats in Congress.
Elon Musk, who played a major role in sinking a bipartisan funding compromise that appeared set to pass Congress earlier this week, said House Republicans’ latest spending plan “sounds promising”.
The US government has warned its employees that a shutdown could happen, Jean-Pierre said.
House Republicans eye funding government till March, raising debt limit after Trump inaugurated - report
In their closed-door conference meeting, House Republican leaders have proposed authorizing government funding until March, and increasing the debt ceiling after Donald Trump inaugurated and the GOP takes control of Congress, Punchbowl News reports.
It is unclear if their funding proposal can be enacted before midnight, when a government shutdown begins, or if it will be acceptable to Trump, who has demanded the limit on how much debt the US government can hold be increased while Joe Biden remains president.
According to Punchbowl, House Republicans have proposed two options for funding the government over the next three months: one that can be passed today but will require Democratic votes and excludes aid for farmers and disaster relief, or a second bill that authorizes both the aid and the spending, but under House rules can only be voted on tomorrow.
As for the debt limit, Punchbowl says Republican leaders have reached an “agreement” to increase it by $1.5tn in the first major piece of legislation Trump is expected to sign, and will couple it with $2.5tn in spending cuts. They note that they will target for reduction mandatory government spending – a category that includes Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, as well as programs to fight poverty and help poor people afford food.
If the government shuts down, Jean-Pierre warned that it could hamper preparations to transition to the second Trump administration.
“If there is a shutdown, and I don’t want to get too much into hypotheticals, but this is the reality, transition activities will be restricted,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’re doing everything to ensure a smooth transition, but the choice to allow a transition to move forward is with in the hands of Republicans in Congress.”
Government has warned employees that shutdown could happen
The US government has begun warning its employees that a shutdown could happen, Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“We believe that there’s still time for Congress to prevent a partial shutdown. We believe that, but in the interest of prudent planning, we want to be prudent here, agencies did start notifying their employees for of their potential furlough today at noon,” the White House press secretary said.
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Biden spokesperson says White House holds Trump and Musk responsible for crisis
Karine Jean-Pierre made clear the White House views Donald Trump and Elon Musk as responsible for the breakdown in the spending deal that has brought the government to the brink of a shutdown.
“Congressional Republicans did what they did because of what the president-elect said, and what Elon Musk said, that’s the reality,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
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Joe Biden has not spoken publicly or issued any statements about the potential government shutdown, but press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said he has been in touch with House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats.
“All Americans need to know is that Republicans are getting in the way here, and they are the ones who have created this mess,” Jean-Pierre said.
She said that Biden’s silence on the issue is in keeping with a strategy he has used before when dealing with Congress: “This is not the first time we’ve been here, and the president has had this approach before. He understands how Congress works. He’s been around for some time. He understand what strategy works here to get this done.”
White House accuses Republicans of 'doing the bidding of their billionaire friends' as shutdown nears
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned Republicans for their alliance with billionaires, which she blamed for upending congressional funding talks and bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown.
“Republicans blew up this deal – they did – and they need to fix this, period,” Jean-Pierre said. “[Republicans need] to stop playing politics with a government shutdown, and … they’re doing the bidding of their billionaire friends, that’s what we’re seeing, at the expense of hard-working Americans.”
Jean-Pierre did not name names, but billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy both loudly condemned a bipartisan spending deal that Congress was expected earlier this week to approve, before ultimately abandoning it at Donald Trump’s urging.
Referring to Trump and congressional Republicans, including speaker Mike Johnson, Jean-Pierre said: “This is a mess that they created, and they need to fix this.”
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House Republicans to meet as they seek resolution of spending fiasco
House Republicans will soon convene and discuss their latest plan to prevent a government shutdown from beginning at midnight, and answer Donald Trump’s demands for a spending bill that also raises the debt ceiling.
CNN reports that lawmakers will meet at 12.30pm, with much to be decided. Media reports indicate that the House speaker, Mike Johnson, will propose breaking up what was one big spending bill into multiple single-issue bills that will keep the government open for another three months and approve aid for disaster relief and to farmers. But, despite Trump’s request, the speaker will not propose legislation to increase the debt ceiling – which could spark opposition in the GOP conference.
In order for legislation to pass today, it will need to attract a two-thirds majority of votes in the House, which means many Democrats will have to be on board. If the GOP wants to enact it with a simple majority, it will need to pass it through the rules committee, and wait until tomorrow for a floor vote. If they go the latter path, government funding will lapse, but perhaps only briefly.
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Hanging over all these negotiations is the question of whether Congress can pass any spending legislation before midnight, when the government shuts down.
At this point, it appears impossible to prevent a shutdown with legislation that passes with only a simple majority. Such legislation must first go through the rules committee, and cannot be voted on the same day that committee reports it out.
As Fox News reports, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the Republicans will instead have to pass legislation under suspension of rules, in which legislation must get a two-thirds majority to pass the House. That plan would require at least some Democratic support to succeed. And needless to say, any legislation the House approves must also pass the Senate.
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Elon Musk says latest talks on funding bill sound 'promising'
Elon Musk reacted positively to the news that House Republicans may split up their government funding bill into three separate parts.
On X, Musk wrote:
Sounds promising
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who co-chair the quasi-governmental “department of government efficiency”, were instrumental in torpedoing a bipartisan spending deal that Congress was expected to approve earlier this week, and bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown.
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House Republicans still have not announced their latest plan to both prevent a government shutdown and answer Donald Trump’s demands, but Punchbowl News has details of what may they may come up with.
Rather than passing one big government funding bill – which was the original suggestion, until Trump and Elon Musk did that in earlier this week – Punchbowl says Republicans will propose enacting three different pieces of legislation.
One bill will extend government funding till March, the second will approve money for disaster relief across the country and the third will reauthorize government support for agriculture.
Perhaps crucially, the plan does not include an increase or suspension of the debt limit – which was one of Trump’s top requests.
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Why might House Republicans be talking to the Democrats again?
Axios reports that Pete Aguilar, chair of the House Democratic caucus, says he does not think the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, will be able to get his legislation passed without at least some Democratic votes:
House Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar told me Republicans can ‘probably not’ pass anything short of the original deal without consulting Jeffries.
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House Republican leaders are again speaking with their Democratic colleagues, after communications between the two sides broke down yesterday.
Punchbowl News reports that the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, told Democratic lawmakers today that the GOP has gotten back in touch.
Earlier in the day, Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip, told CNN that the Republicans had not tried negotiating with her party:
They are now not talking with us. They are continuing the chaos and infighting, and we will see what they do this morning. But we stand here ready to fight for the working people of this country who expect Congress to fulfill this fundamental responsibility of making government work for them.
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House Republicans to take another stab at passing spending bill – report
House Republicans will try once again to pass a bill to keep the government open beyond midnight, Politico reports.
It is unclear what is in the bill, but Ralph Norman, a Republican congressman and member of the rightwing House Freedom caucus, said the party will try to pass it via the rules committee – which means it will only need to win a simple majority in the House for approval.
Last night’s spending bill was voted on under suspension of rules, in which legislation requires a two-thirds majority to pass. That effort failed, due to opposition from almost all Democrats, as well some Republicans.
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Democratic Senate leader Schumer calls on GOP to honor original government funding deal
In brief remarks from the Senate floor, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer called on Republicans to honor a government funding agreement that appeared set to pass earlier this week, before Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s demands scuttled the deal.
“It’s time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago. It’s time for that. It’s time the House votes on our bipartisan CR,” Schumer said.
“It’s the quickest, simplest and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open, while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people. If the House put our original agreement on the floor today, it would pass, and we could put the threat of a shutdown behind us.”
Punchbowl News reports that the House speaker, Mike Johnson, is considering resolving the funding impasse by breaking up the individual issues into different bills.
But no decision has been made, nor have House Republicans even scheduled votes today. Here’s more, from Punchbowl:
ONE OF THE OPTIONS of many being discussed would be for the leadership to hold separate votes on different titles (parts) in the bill – similar to what Johnson did on foreign aid.
There are some procedural issues w this but they can be overcome.
Of course, if Johnson does this, there’s a chance funding passes and debt limit doesnt. But it could theoretically shift some more pressure on Dems and help grow the GOP vote count.
We’ll see where they end up.
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Biden so far silent on spending fiasco
Joe Biden has not commented on the spending fiasco that has unfolded over the past few days.
Today, his public schedule includes only a visit to a children’s hospital in Washington DC in the afternoon. However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will hold a briefing at 12.15pm ET, and likely weigh in on the spending squabble then.
In an interview with CNN today, Democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell was asked why Biden has not yet weighed in publicly. She replied:
I know that he’s been very engaged. I myself talked to the White House multiple times yesterday. Thursday was the anniversary of his first wife’s death. So, he did go to Delaware and went to mass, a ritual I respect. But he’s very much present watching this. I think right now it’s time to see the Republicans, that they’re the ones that wanted to blow up the deal. They’re the ones – so you’re all paying attention to President Musk, and soon to be President Trump again.
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Democrats are clearly enjoying watching Republicans squirm as they try to balance Donald Trump’s demands with the political consequences of allowing the government to shut down.
Writing on Bluesky (an X-like social network where many left-leaning accounts have set up shop), Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said:
Republicans would rather cut taxes for billionaire donors than fund research for children with cancer.
That is why our country is on the brink of a government shutdown that will crash the economy, hurt working class Americans and likely be the longest in history.
Welcome back to the MAGA swamp.
JD Vance and Russ Vought, an author of Project 2025 who Donald Trump nominated to lead a powerful White House office, were scheduled to have met this morning with lawmakers in the rightwing Freedom Caucus, Punchbowl News reports.
Members of the Freedom caucus have objected to Trump’s demands to pair a government funding bill with a debt ceiling increase, saying any such demand should be coupled with deep government spending cuts – which are not believed to be on the table in these negotiations.
It’s unclear if the meeting took place, or what came out of it. Vought is set to do lots of this kind of negotiating in the years to come, as Trump has tapped him to serve as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a role he has held before:
Besides bringing the federal government to the brink of a shutdown, Donald Trump has also lately been pressuring European countries to agree to buy more US-produced oil and gas, the Guardian’s Jill Ambrose reports:
The US president-elect, Donald Trump, has warned the EU that it will face trade tariffs on its exports to the US unless its member states buy more American oil and gas.
Trump reignited fears of a looming trade war between the US and the EU in his first public statement regarding trade since he was elected president in November.
“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!,” he said in a post on his social media site Truth Social.
The US is the world’s the largest producer of oil and has also emerged as the biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the bloc since Russian supplies of pipeline gas to its European customers petered out after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
This week, a US government study, commissioned by the Biden administration, found that increasing US exports of LNG could lead to a gas price spike of up to 30% for domestic gas customers.
The study, which analysed the economic, environmental and other costs of growing the US’s LNG capacity, also found serious consequences for the climate due to its high carbon emissions. The report is expected to complicate Trump’s pre-election promise to quickly approve more exports of LNG.
Reporters at the Capitol have spotted Republican House speaker Mike Johnson arriving at his office.
“We’re expecting votes this morning, so y’all stay tuned,” Johnson said. “We got a plan.”
Asked if he had reached a new agreement, Johnson replied: “We’ll see.”
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Trump says if shutdown happens, 'let it begin now'
Donald Trump has made his political calculations clear in his latest post on Truth Social, writing that he wants a government shutdown to happen while Joe Biden is president:
If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under “TRUMP.” This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!
Trump repeats demand for suspension of debt ceiling
Donald Trump repeated his demand for the suspension – or even elimination – of the federal borrowing limit and continued a political crisis which threatens a US government shutdown on Friday at midnight.
In an early morning post on his Truth Social social media platform Trump said: “Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
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How unusual are US government shutdowns?
For the first 200 years of the US’s existence, they did not happen at all. In recent decades, they have become an increasingly regular part of the political landscape, as Washington politics has become more polarised and brinkmanship a commonplace political tool. There have been 20 federal funding gaps since 1976, when the US first shifted the start of its fiscal year to 1 October.
Three shutdowns in particular have entered US political lore:
A 21-day partial closure in 1995 over a dispute about spending cuts between President Bill Clinton and the Republican speaker, Newt Gingrich, that is widely seen as setting the tone for later partisan congressional struggles.
In 2013, when the government was partially closed for 16 days after another Republican-led Congress tried to use budget negotiations to defund Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.
A 34-day shutdown, the longest on record, lasting from December 2018 until January 2019, when Donald Trump refused to sign any appropriations bill that did not include $5.7bn funding for a wall along the US border with Mexico. The closure damaged Trump’s poll ratings.
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What happens when a US government shutdown takes place?
Here are a few more details about what happens when the US government shuts down:
Thousands of federal government employees are put on furlough, meaning that they are told not to report for work and go unpaid for the period of the shutdown, although their salaries are paid retroactively when it ends.
Other government workers who perform what are judged essential services, such as air traffic controllers and law enforcement officials, continue to work but do not get paid until Congress acts to end the shutdown.
Depending on how long it lasts, national parks can either shut entirely or open without certain vital services such as public toilets or attendants. Passport processing can stop, as can research – at national health institutes.
Federal inspections ensuring food safety and prevention of the release of dangerous materials into drinking water could stop for the duration of the shutdown.
About 10,000 children aged three and four may also lose access to Head Start, a federally funded program to promote school readiness among toddlers, especially among low-income families.
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The latest chaos was sparked when Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan to prevent a government shutdown before the Friday deadline and called for the outright elimination of the debt ceiling.
The US is one of the few countries with a statutory limit on how much debt the federal government can accumulate.
Here’s what to know about the US debt ceiling:
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Before the vote, Democrats and Republicans warned that the other party would be at fault if Congress allowed the government to shut down.
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, told reporters that the package would avoid disruption, tie up loose ends and make it easier for Congress to cut spending by hundreds of billions of dollars when Trump takes office next year. “Government is too big, it does too many things, and it does few things well,” he said.
But Democrats dismissed the bill as a cover for a budget-busting tax cut that would largely benefit wealthy backers such as Musk, the world’s richest man, while saddling the country with trillions of dollars in additional debt.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said during the floor debate: “How dare you lecture America about fiscal responsibility, ever?”
Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman, told reporters: “So who is our leader Hakeem Jeffries supposed to negotiate with? Is it Mike Johnson? Is he the speaker of the House. Or is it Donald Trump? Or is it Elon Musk? Or is it somebody else?”
Some Republicans objected that the bill would clear the way for more debt while failing to reduce spending. Congressman Chip Roy said: “I am absolutely sickened by the party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility.”
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Critics of the incoming Trump administration described the breakdown as an early glimpse of the chaos to come when Trump returns to the White House on 20 January. Musk’s intervention via a volley of tweets on his social media platform X was mocked by Democrats as the work of “President Musk”.
“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious,” Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, told reporters. “It’s laughable. Extreme Maga Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown.”
Despite Trump’s support, 38 Republicans voted against the new package along with nearly every Democrat, ensuring that it failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage and leaving the next steps uncertain.
The defiance from within Trump’s own party caught many by surprise.
The latest bill would have extended government funding into March, when Trump will be in the White House and Republicans will control both chambers of Congress. It also would have provided $100bn in disaster relief and suspended the debt. Republicans dropped other elements that had been included in the original package, such as a pay raise for members of Congress and new rules for pharmacy benefit managers.
At Trump’s urging, the new version also would have suspended limits on the national debt for two years – a move that would make it easier to pass the dramatic tax cuts he has promised and set the stage for the federal government’s $36tn in debt to continue to climb.
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US government shutdown looms after House rejects funding bill
Good morning US politics readers. The US government faces a looming shutdown after the House rejected a bill late on Thursday that would have agreed a temporary funding deal just before a crucial deadline.
By a vote of 174-235, the House of Representatives rejected a Trump-backed package, hastily assembled by Republican leaders after the president-elect and his billionaire ally Elon Musk scuttled a prior bipartisan deal.
Now lawmakers face a last-minute scramble to secure a new deal before the Friday night deadline – or all nonessential government functions will pause.
Thousands of federal government employees would be put on furlough, meaning that they are told not to report for work and go unpaid for the period of the shutdown, although their salaries are paid retroactively when it ends.
Other government workers who perform what are judged essential services, such as air traffic controllers and law enforcement officials, continue to work but do not get paid until Congress acts to end the shutdown.
A shutdown just before the holiday season hits its peak, could be disastrous for millions of Americans.
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