House Republicans tried and failed Thursday evening to fast-track a measure to keep the government funded through a maneuver that required a two-thirds majority, pushing the government closer to a shutdown at midnight Saturday. Dozens of Republicans voted against the measure, while only two Democrats voted in favor. The final tally was 174 in favor, 235 against and one present.
Early Friday morning, with a shutdown hours away, Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters at the Capitol he’s “expecting votes this morning, so stay tuned — we’ve got a plan.”
After Thursday’s vote, President-elect Donald Trump continued to insist the debt ceiling should be included in any stopgap government funding measure, posting on social media that there should not be a deal unless Congress eliminates the debt ceiling — or extends it beyond his presidency to 2029.
Any bill to keep the government funded will still need approval from the Democratic-controlled Senate. The White House indicated that President Biden would not have signed the bill that failed Thursday night.
The bill that failed would have extended government funding for three months, suspended the debt limit until January 2027 and provided $110 billion in disaster aid. It also included health care policy extenders, funding for rebuilding Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and a renewal of the farm bill for one year.
The House descended into chaos Wednesday when a GOP revolt spurred by Trump and Elon Musk sank the original deal that Johnson had reached with Democrats. Republicans huddled on Capitol Hill crafting a new way forward, without input from Democrats.
Johnson defended the bill Thursday night before the vote, saying some bipartisan measures were still included.
“The only change in this legislation is that we are going to push the debt limit to Jan. 30, of 2027,” Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said.
That version was considerably slimmer, at 116 pages compared to the 1,547 pages of the original continuing resolution, and Trump immediately backed that version, calling it a “SUCCESS” and “a very good deal.”
But the vast majority of Democrats rejected it. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the proposal was “laughable.” After the failed vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that “now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement.”
In a statement Thursday evening, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr. Biden “supports the bipartisan agreement to keep the government open, help communities recovering from disasters, and lower costs — not this giveaway for billionaires that Republicans are proposing at the 11th hour.”
Trump and the debt ceiling
As GOP anger grew over the original continuing resolution, the president-elect called on Republicans to strip out additional spending and add a new element instead: raising or abolishing the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling, which limits how much the government can borrow to pay its bills, is suspended until the first quarter of next year, and Trump said he’d prefer to force Mr. Biden to approve raising the debt ceiling so he wouldn’t have to.
Trump reiterated his position on Thursday in a phone conversation with CBS News’ Robert Costa, and in an overnight post on his Truth Social app.
“Number one, the debt ceiling should be thrown out entirely,” Trump said to Costa. “Number two, a lot of the different things they thought they’d receive [in a recently proposed spending deal] are now going to be thrown out, 100%. And we’ll see what happens. We’ll see whether or not we have a closure during the Biden administration. But if it’s going to take place, it’s going to take place during Biden, not during Trump.”
Still, Trump said the standoff could be resolved “in a number of ways that would be very good.”
On Truth Social, Trump said, “Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
While stripping out most of the additional funding from the now-collapsed deal satisfied many Republicans, Democrats spent Thursday slamming Johnson for walking away from their agreement. They say Republicans will shoulder any blame for a potential shutdown.
Jeffries said Thursday House Republicans “detonated” the original bipartisan agreement because they “have been ordered to shut down the government.”
“We are prepared to move forward with the bipartisan agreement that we thought was negotiated in good faith with House Republicans, along with Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans, that meets the needs of the American people at this point in time,” Jeffries said. “We are fighting for everyday Americans who will be hurt by a reckless Republican shutdown.”
Jeffries said a shutdown can be avoided “if House Republicans will simply do what is right for the American people” by sticking by the bipartisan agreement. The minority leader outlined that he and the speaker are maintaining an “open line of communication” to see if they can “resolve this issue.” Jeffries called the debt limit issue and discussion “premature at best.”
Spending fight threatens Johnson’s speakership
The initial plan to keep the government funded and the chaos that surrounded it also prompted intense criticism of Johnson, including from members of his own party. The full House will vote to elect a speaker on Jan. 3 when the new Congress convenes, and one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, has already indicated he won’t support him.
Trump has also been signaling that his support for Johnson is contingent on how the Louisiana Republican proceeds. The president-elect told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Johnson would “easily remain speaker” if he “acts decisively and tough” and eliminates “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the spending package. Asked by NBC News if he still has confidence in Johnson, Trump replied, “We’ll see.”
“What they had yesterday was unacceptable,” Trump told NBC’s Garrett Haake. “In many ways it was unacceptable. It’s a Democrat trap.”
In addition to the slew of add-ons to the original spending bill, conservatives are angry with Johnson for carrying out the negotiating process largely outside of the view of rank-and-file members. Rep. Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, called it “a total dumpster fire.”
A handful of Republicans indicated their support for Johnson’s speakership in the new Congress is now in question. With such a narrow majority, it would take only a few to take him down. Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said flatly Wednesday that he won’t support Johnson in the speaker’s election.
“I’m not voting for him,” Massie said. “This solidifies it.”
In November, House Republicans backed Johnson to lead for another two years during their leadership elections. During the last speaker fight at the beginning of a new Congress in 2023, the slim Republican majority took 15 rounds to elect former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from the role nine months later, partly due to his handling of government funding.