Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Regarding a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through the final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster relief, fall president-elect of Donald Trump requirements for a debt limit increase in the new year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close for the Christmas holiday season. But the day’s outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling raise be included in any deal — if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closings “start now.”
The House overwhelmingly approved Johnson’s new bill, 366-34. The Senate worked overnight to pass it, 85-11, just past the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had halted preparations for the shutdown.
“This is a good result for the country,” Johnson said after the House vote, adding that he had spoken with Trump and the president-elect was “really happy about this result.”
President Joe Bidenwho has played a less public role in the process in a turbulent week, was expected to sign the measure into law Saturday.
“There will be no government shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
The final product was the third attempt by Johnson, the beleaguered House speaker, to achieve one of the basic demands of the federal government — to keep it open. And it raised sharp questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry GOP colleagues, working alongside Trump and billionaire Elon Muskwho called the legislative plays from afar.
Trump’s last-minute demand was almost an impossible one, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work his push for a debt ceiling increase. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the GOP majority to pass any funding package because many Republican deficit hawks would rather cut the federal government and certainly wouldn’t allow more debt.
Instead, Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate next year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, show they will have to regularly rely on Democrats for the votes needed to pass keeping up with the routine operations of administrations.
Get breaking national news
For news that affects Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you as they happen.
“So is this a Republican bill or a Democratic bill?” mocked Musk on social media ahead of the vote.
The drastically slimmed-down 118-page package would fund the government at current levels until March 14 and add $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in agricultural aid to farmers.
Gone is Trump’s demand to lift the debt ceiling, which GOP leaders told lawmakers will be debated in the new year as part of their tax and border packages. Republicans made a so-called handshake deal to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.
It’s essentially the same deal that flopped the night before in a spectacular setback — opposed by most Democrats and some of the most conservative Republicans — minus Trump’s debt ceiling deal.
But it’s much smaller than the original bipartisan deal Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was filled with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.
House Democrats were cool with the latest effort after Johnson rejected the hard-fought bipartisan compromise.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said it appeared Musk, the richest man in the world, was calling the shots for Trump and Republicans.
“Who’s the boss?” she asked during the debate.
Still, House Democrats have more votes than Republicans for the bill’s passage. Nearly three dozen conservative House Republicans voted against.
“House Democrats have successfully prevented extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans across the nation,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
In the Senate, almost all opposition came from Republicans – except for independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who said that Musk’s interference “is not a democracy, it is an oligarchy.”
Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his power with Congress as he intervenes and orchestrates matters beyond Mar-a-Lago Muskwhich stands the new Department of Government Efficiency.
The incoming Trump administration promises cut the federal budget and fire thousands of employees and is counting on Republicans for a big tax package. And Trump isn’t afraid of shutdowns like lawmakers are, after they trigger them longest government shutdown in history in his first term at the White House.
“If there is going to be a government shutdown, let it start now,” Trump posted on social media early this morning.
More important for the president-elect was his demand for pushing the thorny debt ceiling debate from the table before he returns to the White House. The federal debt limit expires January 1, and Trump does not want the first months of his new administration to be saddled with tough negotiations in Congress to raise the nation’s borrowing capacity. Now Johnson will be on the hook to deliver.
“Congress needs to get rid of the ridiculous debt ceiling, or extend it to, maybe, 2029,” Trump posted — ramping up his demand for a new five-year debt limit increase. “Without this, we should never make a deal.”
Government workers had already been told to prepare for a federal shutdown that would send millions of employees – and members of the army – during the holiday season without pay.
Biden has been in discussions with Jeffries and Schumer, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Republicans blew this deal. They did, and they have to fix this.”
As the day dragged on, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stepped in to remind colleagues “how damaging it is to shut down the government, and how foolish it is to bet your own side isn’t to blame for it will take.”
At one point, Johnson asked House Republicans at a lunchtime meeting for a show of hands as they tried to choose the path forward.
It was not only the closing, but the work of the speaker on the line. The election of the speaker is the first vote of the new Congress, which meets on January 3, and some Trump allies have floated Musk for speaker.
Johnson said he spoke with Musk before the vote Friday and that she talked about the “extraordinary challenges of this job.”
