House speaker breaks with Trump over debt limit

WASHINGTON – With just hours to go before the federal government it begins close due to lack of funds, House Republicans on Friday plan to hold a vote finance the government for three months and provide disaster relief and agricultural aid.

To pass the full House before the midnight shutdown deadline, however, the bill, released late Friday afternoon, will need significant Democratic support. It will also need a realistic path to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he was committed to avoiding a shutdown that could jeopardize wages for hundreds of thousands of federal employees just days before Christmas.

“We’re not going to have a government shutdown,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol on Friday afternoon. “We will meet our obligations to our farmers who need help, disaster victims across the country and ensure that the military and essential services and all those who rely on the federal government for a payment are paid during the holidays “.

It was not clear how the Democrats, led by Minority Leader Hakeem JeffriesDN.Y., reacts to the standalone bill. But the first signs were encouraging.

“This is a bill that can find faith among enough Democrats to help the Speaker of the House pass the bill,” said Rep. James Clyburn, DS.C., a longtime party leader, on MSNBC’s “Deadline White House.”

Earlier in the day, Jeffries told a group of politically vulnerable Democrats that he hoped to resolve the impasse, according to Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News.

The vote capped several days of chaos on Capitol Hill, during which Johnson tried, and failed, to answer President-elect Donald Trump’s questions.

Trump and his billionaire campaign donor Elon MuskTesla’s CEO condemned an initial financing plan negotiated on Wednesday, sharply criticizing its provisions, sending Republicans scrambling most of Thursday to find a replacement plan.

In particular, Trump insisted that any deal to keep the government open must include a two-year suspension of the US debt limit. The limit is the maximum that the federal government can borrow to pay for its expenses.

The debt ceiling is a recurring and bitter debate in Washington every few years, and one where the political party in the minority typically has a lot of leverage. Trump seems eager to avoid this fight early in his second term.

But allowing the US to borrow more money is a bridge too far for many hard-line conservative Republicans.

This was evident on Thursday invoicewhich contained bare bones government funding and an increase in the debt limit, was resoundingly defeated. Joining nearly all the Democrats were 38 rank-and-file Republicans who voted against it him, after his the party leader had publicly endorsed the deal.

If Friday’s effort to avoid a shutdown succeeds, it will serve as a reminder for Trump of how difficult it is to control the notoriously fractious House Republican Caucus.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.