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WASHINGTON – A house Republican bill to fund the government for three months and suspend the debt ceiling for two years failed Thursday night, as dozens of grassroots Republicans voted against deal approved by the president-elect Donald Trump.
Without an agreement to fund the federal government and legislation that has passed the House and Senate and been signed into law, a partial arrest is set to begin late Friday night.
A total of 38 Republicans voted against the bill hammered out by their party leaders. The 38 were joined by all Democrats except two who voted in favor and one who voted absent.
It was unclear late Thursday what House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would do next, given how significant opposition to the bill was from within his own party.
Trump and his ally Elon Muskthe CEO of Tesla, had already condemned an earlier funding proposal on Wednesday harshly criticizing its provisions, sending Republicans scrambling for most of Thursday for a replacement plan.
The latest failed version of the continuing resolution would have suspended the US debt ceiling for two years. The ceiling is the maximum the federal government can borrow to pay for its spending.
This suspension was a surprising last-minute addition to the proposal, as raising the debt ceiling usually requires months of negotiations.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks to members of the media along with U.S. House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar ( D-CA) after President-elect Donald Trump asked lawmakers to reject a bill to keep the house. The government funded last Friday, increasing the likelihood of a partial shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, United States, on December 19, 2024.
Leah Millis | Reuters
But Trump said Wednesday that he did not want to take office in January and immediately face a vote by Congress on the debt limit. Trump this week called for the permanent abolition of the debt ceiling.
The new proposal also called for an extension of $110 billion in disaster and farm aid, which was a key request from House Democrats.
Although Democrats hold a minority of seats in the House, Republicans hold a majority by only a handful of seats, making it difficult to pass significant legislation without at least a modicum of bipartisan support.
