What happened
House Republicans abandoned a stopgap spending package Wednesday evening after President-elect Donald Trump told them to kill the bipartisan legislation and replace it with a more pared-down package that cut out Democratic priorities and also raised the debt ceiling. Trump’s new demands, paired with threats of retribution, made a Christmastime government shutdown likely.
Who said what
The carefully negotiated spending package, introduced by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday, would have funded the government at current levels until March 14 and included $100.4 billion for natural disaster survivors. Johnson’s late addition of $10 billion in aid to farmers “opened the door to a slew of unrelated demands by Democrats to ensure the bill could pass the House and Democratic-led Senate,” The Washington Post said.
Trump’s “opposition to what was considered must-pass legislation,” and especially his “almost unrealistic” debt-ceiling demand, “reinjected a sense of chaos and political brinkmanship that was reminiscent of his first term in office,” The Associated Press said. Trump weighed in after Elon Musk “used his social network X to stir Republicans into a frenzy,” posting “100-plus tweets” attacking the legislation, often using “misleading or outright false claims,” Politico said.
Democrats, whose votes are needed to pass any spending bill, “signaled they weren’t in any mood to bail Republicans out,” Politico said. “You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said.
What next?
Johnson “has not outlined a backup plan,” and his “next step remains unclear,” the Post said. Without a spending bill, “most federal operations would shut down” on Saturday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reportedly told Democrats last night that “we have a deal with Republicans and we’re sticking with it.”