U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) listen during a Hanukkah reception at the U.S. Capitol Building on December 17, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders are running out of time to avoid a partial government shutdown late Friday night, after President-elect Donald Trump and his allies sunk a compromise bill to fund the government through March.
The continuing resolution unveiled late Tuesday night appeared early on as though it would need Democratic votes to pass the narrowly divided House, after hard-line conservatives balked at the price tag and several provisions of the bill, which included a pay bump for members of Congress.
But Trump’s formal opposition to the bill late Wednesday came only after billionaire GOP megadonor Elon Musk spent the day railing against the bill, gradually making it politically impossible for much of the House Republican conference to support it.
The very public collapse of the massive, negotiated bill has also put House Speaker Mike Johnson’s standing among his conference in jeopardy. The Louisiana Republican insisted on including several major spending initiatives in the bill, designed in part to win the necessary Democratic support in the Senate the bill will need to become law.
Rather than simply demanding a lower price tag, Trump surprised many Republicans on Wednesday by demanding that any bill to fund the government must also raise the debt ceiling.
The debt ceiling has become a recurring, bitter debate in Washington every few years, and one that Trump is eager to avoid during the start of his second term in office.
“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday announcing his opposition to Johnson’s continuing resolution.
“If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.