WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson has reversed a last-ditch move to avert a government shutdown in the face of opposition from Republican lawmakers, including President-elect Donald Trump. billions of dollars With expenses added to your bill.
Lawmakers have a Friday deadline to approve new spending. The measure announced Tuesday would extend the funding period until March 14, but also includes disaster relief, health policy extensions and pay increases for members of Congress, among other provisions. was. The disaster relief portion of the bill alone cost $110 billion.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, acknowledged: Stop-gap financing measures He has died and his future course is unknown.
“There is no new agreement at this time,” Scalise said.
In a statement Wednesday, President Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance criticized Johnson’s approach and said Republicans would pass “a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and Democrats everything they want.” said it should. He also called on House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling, which limits how much the government can borrow to pay its bills.
“Republicans want to help farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a stopgap funding bill and debt without aid from Democrats.” combined with a cap increase,” they said. . “Any other action is a betrayal of our country.”
The debt ceiling is not a part of these negotiations, and Republicans typically oppose raising it. With just two days left until the funding expires, President Trump’s decision to bring the issue to closure negotiations adds a new dimension to the legislative battle.
“Raising the debt ceiling is not great, but we would rather do it on Biden’s watch,” Trump and Vance wrote. “If Democrats won’t help raise the debt ceiling now, why would anyone think they will in June under our administration? Let’s start this discussion now.” law Passed in June 2023, the debt ceiling was suspended until the first quarter of 2025.
On Wednesday, Republicans opposed the funding plan after Trump ally Elon Musk made a barrage of social media posts condemning it.
Vance did not respond to a question on Capitol Hill about whether he supports Trump and the government shutdown.
The Office of Management and Budget has directed federal agencies to begin communicating with employees about closure procedures starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow, sources told CBS News late Wednesday.
Last Friday, government agencies were told to prepare and prepare for the shutdown.
Ongoing solution
When the spending bill was announced on Tuesday, it immediately sparked outrage from several members of the House Republican conference, primarily targeting Mr. Johnson. He had pledged to avoid a big year-end spending bill that conservatives loathe, but the final version resembled a scaled-down version of what the party’s right wing has long decried.
But the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives meant that Mr. Johnson needed Democratic votes to pass the bill, and this dynamic meant that concessions were made to the minority during negotiations. It gave me the power to bring out the. Amid reports that Mr Johnson may scale back the bill, House of Commons leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a post on himself,” he wrote, hinting at the influence of the Democratic Party.
Jeffries, a New York Democrat, told reporters Wednesday night that “Republicans have unilaterally decided to renege on the bipartisan agreement that they entered into.” “House Republicans will be held responsible for any harm to the American people from a government shutdown or worse. A deal is a deal. It was bipartisan. And there’s nothing more to say. .”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also called on Republicans to “keep their word.”
“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or it will harm hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” he said in a statement.
Johnson, R-Louisiana, acknowledged the bill was intended to be “very lean” before “some interventions” occurred, citing the devastation left by hurricanes earlier this year. .
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Before the text of the bill was released, Johnson dismissed Republican concerns that the continuing resolution amounted to an “omnibus” bill. Omnibus bill is the term used when Congress combines annual appropriations bills that fund many federal agencies into one large bill.
“This is not an omnibus, is it?” Johnson told his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “This is a small (continuing resolution) and we had to add things that are out of our control. These are not man-made disasters. These are things for the federal government to do its proper role.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also vowed to give MPs 72 hours to read the bill before voting, with MPs expecting a vote as early as Wednesday, with nearly 1,550 pages of text to be read. He said he was given less than 24 hours to complete it. President Trump’s statements cast doubt on the path forward, raising speculation that Johnson could scrap the current bill and introduce a narrower funding extension that includes disaster relief.
Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison on Tuesday called the process a “complete dumpster fire.” He said he was “disappointed” with Mr Johnson and called on him to “communicate better”. Other lawmakers, like Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, have called the bill a “cram nivus.” Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Florida, called the measure a “band-aid laced with fentanyl.”
“There’s a certain sandwich made out of feces, and this is what it looks like,” said Representative Anna Paulina Luna, also from Florida. She argued that combining this measure with disaster relief would put members in a difficult situation. “This is no sandwich. All I can say is we’re forced into this position.”
The dispute could trigger a challenge to Mr Johnson’s Speakership when the new parliament convenes on January 3. Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, said Wednesday that he would not support Mr. Johnson in the speaker race.
“I’m not voting for him,” Massey said. “This will solidify.”
Massey said he has spoken to other members who have a similar stance.
Mr Johnson also encountered a buzzsaw of opposition outside the House of Commons. Elon Musk, co-director of the Office of Government Efficiency, an advisory group to President Trump, wrote in a post on It deserves to be done.” Musk posted dozens of posts throughout the day calling the bill “criminal” and calling on lawmakers to oppose it.
He told Fox News earlier in the day that he had discussed the situation with Musk and DOGE’s other co-head, Vivek Ramaswamy, on Tuesday night. Johnson said he stressed that passing the continuing resolution now would be “a clean slate” and allow the incoming Republican majority to “leave its mark on spending” in March.
In any case, Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy strongly opposed the bill.
The stopgap measure expires in about two months until the start of Trump’s second term, setting up a new budget battle as Republicans try to pass Trump’s top priorities for his first 100 days. House Republicans will retain control of both chambers, but they will operate with a reduced majority until vacancies held by members who joined the Trump administration are filled.
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