Trump-backed bill to prevent government shutdown fails
WASHINGTON – A house Republican bill The plan to fund the government for three months and suspend the debt ceiling for two years collapsed Thursday evening when dozens of rank-and-file Republicans voted against it act approved by the elected president Donald Trump.
Without an agreement to fund the federal government and without legislation passing the House and Senate and becoming law, a partial shutdown is scheduled to begin late Friday evening.
A total of 38 Republicans voted against the bill drafted by their own party’s leaders. The 38 were joined by all Democrats except two who voted in favor and one who voted present.
It was unclear late Thursday what House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would do next, given the level of opposition to the bill within his own party.
Trump and his ally Elon MuskTesla’s CEO had already doomed an earlier funding proposal on Wednesday by sharply criticizing its provisions, leaving Republicans scrambling for much of Thursday to come up with a replacement plan.
The last failed version of the continuing resolution would have suspended the U.S. debt ceiling for two years. The cap is the maximum amount that the federal government can borrow to finance its expenditure.
This suspension was a surprising, last-minute addition to the proposal, as raising the debt ceiling typically requires months of negotiations.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, along with U.S. House Democratic Caucus Leader Katherine Clark and House Democratic Caucus Leader Pete Aguilar (D-CA), speak to members of the news media after President-elect Donald Trump urged lawmakers to reject a stopgap bill to keep the government funded, raising the likelihood of a partial shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, last Friday. December 19, 2024.
Leah Millis | Reuters
But Trump said Wednesday he doesn’t want to take office in January and immediately face a vote in Congress on the debt limit. Trump this week called for the permanent abolition of the debt ceiling.
The new proposal also included a $110 billion expansion of disaster and agricultural aid, a key demand of House Democrats.
Although Democrats hold a minority of seats in the House of Representatives, Republicans only have a majority of a handful of seats, making it difficult to pass significant legislation without at least a modicum of bipartisan support.
