Washington: The House rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s new plan Thursday to fund federal operations and suspend the debt ceiling a day before a government shutdown, as Democrats refused to accommodate his sudden demands and the quick fix cobbled together by Republican leaders.
In a hastily-convened evening vote punctuated by angry outbursts over the self-made crisis, the lawmakers failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage — but House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared determined to try again before Friday’s midnight deadline.
“We are going to do the right thing here,” Johnson said ahead of the vote. But he did not even get a majority, with the bill failing 174-235.
The outcome proved a massive setback for Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, who rampaged against Johnson’s bipartisan compromise, which Republicans and Democrats had reached earlier to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown.
It provides a preview of the turbulence ahead when Trump returns to the White House with Republican control of the House and Senate. During his first term, Trump led Republicans into the longest government shutdown in history during the 2018 Christmas season and interrupted the holidays in 2020 by tanking a bipartisan COVID-relief bill and forcing a do-over.
Hours earlier, Trump announced “SUCCESS in Washington!” in coming up with the new package which would keep government running for three more months, add USD 100.4 billion in disaster assistance including for hurricane-hit states, and allow more borrowing through January 30, 2027.
“Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal,” Trump posted.
But Republicans, who had spent 24 hours largely negotiating with themselves to come up with the new plan, ran into a wall of resistance from Democrats, who were were in no hurry to appease demands from Trump — or his billionaire ally Musk.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were sticking with the original deal with Johnson and called the new one “laughable”.
“It is not a serious proposal,” Jeffries said as he walked to Democrats’ own closed-door caucus meeting. Inside, Democrats were chanting, “Hell, no!”
All day, Johnson had been fighting to figure out how to meet Trump’s sudden demands — and keep his own job — while federal offices are being told to prepare to shutter operations.
The new proposal whittled the 1,500-page bill to 116 pages and dropped a number of add-ons — notably, the first pay raise for lawmakers in more than a decade, which could have allowed as much as a 3.8-per cent bump. That drew particular scorn as Musk turned his social media army against the bill.
Trump said early on Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” in coming up with a new plan to also raise the debt limit, a stunning request just before the Christmas holidays that has put the beleaguered speaker in a bind.
And if not, the president-elect warned of trouble ahead for Johnson and Republicans in Congress.
“Anybody that supports a bill that does not take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
The tumultuous turn of events, coming as lawmakers were preparing to head home for the holidays, sparks a familiar reminder of what it is like in Trump-run Washington.
For Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of a January 3 House vote to remain speaker, Trump’s demands left him severely weakened, forced to abandon his word with Democrats and work into the night to broker the new approach.
Trump’s allies even floated the far-fetched idea of giving Musk the speaker’s gavel, since the speaker is not required to be a member of the Congress. Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted she was “open” to the idea.
Democrats were beside themselves, seeing this as a fitting coda after one of the most unproductive congressional sessions in modern times.
“Here we are once again in chaos,” said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who detailed the harm a government shutdown would cause Americans. “And what for? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, We’re not doing this deal, and Donald Trump followed along.'”
The debate in the House chamber grew heated as lawmakers blamed each other for the mess.
At one point, Rep. Marc Molinaro, who was presiding over the debate, slammed the speaker’s gavel with such force that it broke.
The stakes could not be higher. Trump was publicly turning on those who opposed him.
One hardline Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, drew Trump’s ire for refusing to go along with the plan and telling colleagues they had no self-respect for piling onto the nation’s debt.
“It is shameful!” Roy thundered, standing on the Democratic side of the aisle and pointing at his fellow Republicans.
The slimmed-down package does include federal funds to rebuild Baltimore’s collapsed Key Bridge, but dropped a separate land transfer that could have paved the way for a new Washington Commanders football stadium.
But it abandons a long list of other bipartisan bills that had support as lawmakers in both parties try to wrap work for the year. It extends government funds through March 14.
Adding an increase in the debt ceiling to what had been a bipartisan package is a show-stopper for Republicans who routinely vote against more borrowing, and Democrats who were not about to give into Trump’s demands without a price.
AP
