The United States could face a government shutdown at midnight Saturday after President-elect Donald Trump called on Republican lawmakers to reject a bipartisan funding bill that would have kept the government funded through March.
Trump urged Congress to scrap the deal and pass a lighter version with fewer provisions. His intervention followed strong criticism of the bill by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican majority leader in the House, indicated Wednesday evening that the bill was dead after Trump denounced it.
The short-term funding bill will need to pass Congress by the end of the week to prevent the closure of federal government offices starting Saturday.
Now Republican leaders must go back to the drawing board, and they only have until 11:59 p.m. EDT (04:59 GMT) to reach an agreement before funding expires and the government shuts down.
A government shutdown would force federal agencies – ranging from the National Park Service to the Border Patrol – to limit and begin shutting down their operations this weekend.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance delivered the final blow to House Speaker Mike Johnson's bipartisan funding bill on Wednesday evening, following a pressure campaign by Mr. Musk on X.
Mr. Musk, who Trump has charged with cutting government spending in his incoming administration, lobbied hard against the existing deal several times on Wednesday against the bill, often with false statements.
The president and vice president-elect are pushing for simplified legislation that does not include the Democratic-backed provisions Johnson negotiated with his colleagues across the aisle.
The now-dead bipartisan deal would have extended government funding until March 14, several months after Trump returns to the White House.
This legislation is necessary because Congress never passed a budget for fiscal year 2025, which began October 1. Instead, lawmakers chose to pass an extension of the short-term funding until December 20.
They also called in a joint statement for Congress to raise the debt ceiling, which determines how much the government can borrow to pay its bills, and to limit financing legislation to temporary spending and emergency relief. disaster event.
“Republicans want to support our farmers, fund disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRATIC GIFTS combined with an increase in the cap debt,” the statement said. read.
They called anything else a “betrayal of our country.”
In posts on his social media site Truth Social, Trump threatened to help unseat “any Republican who is stupid enough to” vote for the current version of the bill, which was unveiled Tuesday.
“If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then it’s a bluff,” he said.
Johnson's 1,500-page continuing resolution included more than $110 billion (£88 billion) in emergency disaster aid and $30 billion (£23 billion) in aid to farmers . It also included lawmakers' first pay raise since 2009, federal funds to rebuild a collapsed bridge in Baltimore, health care reforms and provisions to prevent hotels and live event venues from to engage in misleading advertising.
It's unclear exactly how Johnson plans to proceed. The two parties meet on Thursday to decide the path forward for their party.
Democrats are unlikely to help Johnson by supporting a revamped funding bill, blaming him for breaking their bipartisan agreement.
“You break the bipartisan agreement, you face the consequences that follow,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement after Trump came out against the bill, saying: “Republicans must stop playing politics with this bipartisan deal or they will harm to American workers and will create instability across the country. »
“Triggering a damaging government shutdown would harm families,” President Joe Biden's spokesperson continued, adding: “A deal is a deal. Republicans should keep their word.”
There have been 21 U.S. government shutdowns or partial shutdowns in the past five decades – the longest occurring during Trump's first term, when the government was shut down for 35 days.
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