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House Republicans failed to secure the majority needed Thursday for a spending bill to avert a government shutdown by the end of the week, handing a decisive loss President-elect Trump in an early test of his ability to unite House Republicans.
The bill failed by a vote of 235 to 174, including 38 Republicans who voted against the bill.
The bill not only failed to pass a method that allowed lawmakers to fast-track it with a two-thirds majority. It also failed to pass the usual standards, which require a threshold of 218 yes votes.
TRUMP-BACKED SPENDING BILL TO AVOID A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FAILS IN A VOTED HOUSE
Among 38 Republicans who voted against the bill it was Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who torched the funding bill in a speech on the House floor.
Roy, who spent much of the day Thursday debating with Trump about Roy’s opposition to the deal, noted that the measure would add $5 trillion to the national debt, contradicting the GOP’s principle of fiscal responsibility.
Roy said Republicans who voted to approve the measure lacked “self-respect.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, talks to reporters as he walks by the chamber. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“I’m absolutely sick of a party that stands for fiscal responsibility and has the audacity to go to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible,” said Roy, who also opposed the first spending bill. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Still, the number of Republicans who failed to line up Thursday night could signal greater challenges ahead for Trump, who has tried to sway the House Speaker. Mike Johnson and others in the Republican majority of the House in accordance with his political will and the adoption of a new law with a higher debt ceiling.
That law drew opposition from Democrats, who were broadly opposed to the idea, and fiscal conservatives within the Republican Party.
President-elect Trump, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 16. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)
WITH 36 trillion dollars of debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2024, some conservatives oppose a further resolution, which would set a March funding deadline and hold spending at 2024 levels. The deal Trump has pushed for would include a two-year suspension of the debt limit, which has drawn further opposition among some Republicans.
‘HELL NO’: DEBT CONCLUSION DEMOCRATS BREAK OUT OVER GOP SPENDING DEAL
That division has put pressure on Democrats, who on Thursday widely signaled their intention to oppose the bill. Minority leaders spent much of the day blasting Trump and Elon Musk for interfering in the process and thwarting the first spending deal, which was set to pass Wednesday night with bipartisan support.
Ahead of Thursday’s vote on the new bill, Democrats chanted “Hell no,” sending a clear signal of their displeasure with the way the new spending bill has been cut.
President-elect Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are fighting to prevent a government shutdown. (Getty Images)
After the bill’s failure, Johnson immediately began cozying up to a group of House Republicans who voted against the bill in a likely attempt to drum up support for another vote on Friday.
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“It’s very disappointing to us that all but two Democrats voted against helping farmers and ranchers, against disaster relief, against all these bipartisan measures that have already been negotiated and decided,” Johnson said after the failed vote. “Again, the only difference in this bill was that we would move the debt ceiling up to January 2027.
“I want you all to remember that last spring, the same Democrats were chastising Republicans and saying it was irresponsible to hold the debt limit, the debt ceiling hostage.”
