US funding plan collapses as Trump makes demands days before shutdown
NEWS | 19 December 2024
Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan on Wednesday to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown, instead telling House speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to essentially renegotiate – days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. The president-elect’s sudden entrance into the debate and new demands sent Congress spiraling as lawmakers are trying to wrap up work and head home for the holidays. It leaves Johnson scrambling to engineer a new plan before Friday’s deadline to keep government open. “Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH,” Trump and JD Vance said in a statement. Trump made an almost unrealistic proposal that combined some continuation of government funds along with a much more controversial provision to raise the country’s debt limit – something his own party routinely rejects. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they wrote. Democrats decried the Republican GOP over the stopgap measure, which would have also provided about $100bn in disaster aid to states hammered by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters. “House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. “And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow.” Already, the enormous 1,500-page bill was on the verge of collapse, as hard right conservatives rejected the increased spending, egged on by Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk who rejected the plan almost as soon as it was released on Tuesday night. Rank-and-file lawmakers complained about the extra spending – which includes their first pay-raises in more than a decade – a shock after one of the most unproductive chaotic sessions in modern times. A number of Republicans were waiting for Trump to signal whether they should vote yes or no. Even the addition of much-needed disaster aid, about $100.4bn in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural calamities that ravaged states this year, plus $10bn in economic assistance for farmers failed to win over the budget-slashing GOP. “This should not pass,” Musk posted on Twitter/X in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The outcome comes as no surprise for Johnson, who like other Republican House speakers before him, has been unable to convince his majority to go along with the routine needs of federal government operations, which they would prefer to slash. It all shows just how hard it will be for Republicans next year, as they seize control of the House, Senate and White House, to unify and lead the country. And it underscores how much Johnson and the Republican leaders must depend on Trump’s blessing to see any legislative package over the finish line. “What does President Trump want Republicans to do: vote for the CR or shut down government? Absent direction, confusion reigns,” said retiring senator Mitt Romney, in a post on X. Musk, who is heading the new Department of Government Efficiency and leading the charge against it, warned: “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Democrats, who negotiated the final product with Johnson and Senate Republican leadership, will be expected to provide enough support to help Johnson ensure passage, as is often the case on big bills. Federal government funding runs out at midnight on Friday. “The sooner Congress acts, the better,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said. The final package extends existing government programs and services at their current operating levels for a few more months, through 14 March 2025. The stopgap measure is needed because Congress has failed to pass its annual appropriations bills to fund all the various agencies in the federal government, from the Pentagon and national security apparats, to the health, welfare, transportation and other routine domestic services. When the fiscal year ended on 30 September, Congress simply punted the problem by passing a temporary funding bill that expires on Friday.
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