Trump-backed spending bill goes down in flames as shutdown looms

A bill to avert a partial government shutdown backed by President-elect Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.

Congress is edging closer to the possibility of a partial shutdown, with a deadline set to expire on Friday.

Two-thirds of the House of Representatives was needed to pass the law, but it failed to even achieve a majority. Two Democrats voted with most Republicans to pass the bill, while 38 GOP lawmakers pushed Trump to oppose it.

The margin fell from 174 to 235.

It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers battled each other over further growth in government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Meanwhile, national debt has risen to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.

The bill was hurriedly negotiated Thursday after GOP hardliners led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy rebelled against an initial bipartisan deal that would have extended the government funding deadline to March 14 and included a series of unrelated political riders.

The new deal also includes several key policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessor.

Like the original bill, the new iteration extended the government funding deadline to March 14, while also suspending the debt limit — something Trump pushed for.

It proposed suspending the debt limit for two years until January 2027, keeping it still in Trump’s term but delaying that fight until after the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

The new proposal also includes roughly $110 billion in disaster relief for Americans affected by hurricanes Milton and Helena, as well as a measure to cover the cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which was struck by a barge earlier this year.

Excluded from the second measure was the first pay raise for members of Congress since 2009 and a measure aimed at revitalizing RFK Stadium in Washington, DC.

The text of the new bill is also significantly shorter – from 1,547 pages to only 116.

“All Republicans and even Democrats should do what is best for our country and vote ‘YES’ on this bill, TONIGHT!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

But the law met with opposition before the legal text was even published.

Democrats, furious with Johnson for ignoring their original bipartisan deal, chanted “Hell no” at their closed conference meeting Thursday night to discuss the bill.

Almost all of the House Democrats who left the meeting indicated they would vote against it.

Meanwhile, members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus also said they would vote against the bill.

“Old bill: 110 BB in deficit spending (unpaid), $0 increase in national credit card. New bill: 110 BB in deficit spending (unpaid), $4 TRILLION debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. It’s time to read the bill: I’ll vote no in 1.5 hours,” wrote Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, on X.