The collapse of the bipartisan CR deal is a major test for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — but especially Jeffries.
In repeated statements on Wednesday, the New York Democrat hammered Speaker Mike Johnson — who Jeffries helped keep in office earlier this year — for reneging on a bipartisan agreement despite weeks of closely held negotiations.
Jeffries and top House Democrats also declared their members would only vote for the bipartisan CR package that’s already been unveiled. If Johnson wants to pass a revised CR with a debt-limit increase — as President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have demanded — then he’s going to have to do it with GOP votes alone. And that means dozens of Republicans who’ve never voted for a debt-limit bill are going to have to do so now.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country,” a defiant Jeffries told reporters after Johnson pulled the plug on the CR deal. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse.”
In some ways, this lame-duck drama is the best thing that happened to Democrats — although maybe not the country — since Election Day. A demoralized Democratic Party has been grappling over its failed campaign messaging, pointing fingers at President Joe Biden and wondering whether it can still connect with blue-collar Americans.
But after Wednesday’s CR implosion, Johnson and the House GOP Conference are in disarray, with the speaker facing questions over whether he can survive this debacle. Trump is threatening to primary Republicans who don’t vote for a debt-limit increase. And Democratic lawmakers are looking to hype up a rivalry between Trump and mega-billionaire Elon Musk, who spent all day trashing Johnson’s CR plan before the president-elect joined in as well.
The House Democratic Caucus will meet at 9 a.m. to discuss what comes next.
State-by-state impact. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, will circulate a brand-new chart detailing on a state-by-state basis how much federal aid will be lost if the bipartisan CR package is derailed by Republicans. You can see the chart here, first in Punchbowl News.
There’s more than $100 billion in disaster funding included in the bipartisan package, plus $30 billion in aid for farmers and an assortment of other provisions. Johnson may strip all this out under pressure from Trump, Musk and conservatives.
According to Democrats, Florida will lose out on $10.8 billion in new aid, North Carolina $9.3 billion, California nearly $7.1 billion, Texas $5.4 billion, Virginia $3.7 billion and South Carolina $2.3 billion, among others.
“It is dangerous for House Republicans to have folded to the demands of the richest man on the planet, who nobody elected, after leaders in both parties came to an agreement to fund the government and provide this disaster aid,” said DeLauro, who also slammed “President Musk.”
