President-elect Donald Trump cannonballed into the government funding battle at the 11th hour, trashing Speaker Mike Johnson’s 1,547-page CR and calling on Congress to raise the debt limit just days before the federal government is slated to shut down.
In a long statement on X, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance called on Congress to pass a debt-limit bill on “Biden’s watch.” Republican leadership on Capitol Hill hadn’t considered including the debt limit in any recent negotiations, although Trump has been griping about having to deal with the borrowing cap for weeks.
Federal agencies shut down Friday at midnight if Congress doesn’t act. The House announced that there are no more votes this evening.
Trump’s statement was the final blow to a CR package that was already a hugely embarrassing setback for Johnson. The House Freedom Caucus had been bitterly opposed to the bipartisan package, which includes $100 billion in disaster aid, $30 billion in support for farmers, health care and trade provisions and even a pay raise for lawmakers, a controversial move.
It’s an inauspicious start to Trump’s relationship with Johnson who, theoretically, is his governing partner. Trump privately trashed Johnson to senators, saying the speaker “mishandled” the situation, according to GOP sources.
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” Trump and Vance said. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.”
The stopgap funding bill, which congressional leaders released Tuesday night, was indeed a monstrosity. It was an 84-day spending bill that included dozens of provisions completely unrelated to general government operations. As we noted this morning, the legislation was far too broad and sweeping for a short-term spending bill.
Yet Johnson felt he had to give into Democratic demands on a host of provisions because the speaker insisted on the inclusion of economic aid for farmers. Democrats took advantage of Johnson’s position and scored a number of key wins.
What’s next? As of right now, there’s no clear path forward on how Congress plans to avoid a shutdown in just two days.
House GOP leaders have been weighing a Plan B – a clean CR – but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled Democrats aren’t inclined to bail Republicans out after Johnson backed out of their bipartisan funding deal.
“You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” Jeffries said on X.
One Democratic lawmaker said if Nancy Pelosi were the party’s leader, she’d make Republicans pass the bill on their own.
Whatever Republicans decide, they need to move quickly – and with Trump’s blessing. The House and Senate both have to pass a bill in two days in order to avoid even a technical shutdown.
And what about Johnson? A face plant of this nature could imperil Johnson’s political future. The anger – and the anger in the ranks is very real right now – could blow over. We get it. But the speaker election is Jan. 3. That’s just 16 days away.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) already said he wouldn’t back Johnson for speaker. Massie had been leaning that way but said this latest CR debacle was a “tipping point.”
And we hear from multiple sources there are more Republicans – at least two – who are in Massie’s camp. Some Johnson critics are already privately floating names behind the scenes of alternatives they’d prefer for speaker, such as House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan or House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. Jordan and Emmer both ran for speaker after the conference ousted Kevin McCarthy. They both lost. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise could also be in the mix.
Arizona GOP Rep. Eli Crane told us he was “undecided” about voting for Johnson and confirmed there’s talk behind the scenes about a potential alternative. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) is leaning “no,” we’re told. Reps. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and Cory Mills (R-Fla.) have been non-committal. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) is always a wild card.
Johnson can only afford to lose three Republicans on the floor, given former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) resignation and assuming all Democrats are present.
And how about Musk? Elon Musk, Trump’s buddy and the mega-billionaire, posted early and often on his platform X today about the bill.
Musk said that any “member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Remember that Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars electing Trump. He can spend several millions of dollars and have outsized impact in House primaries.
We also heard he’s been in direct contact with several members regarding the CR throughout the last 24 hours.
Johnson and the GOP leadership in D.C. elevated Musk as the leading figure on cutting government waste. And now that is coming back to bite them.
By the way… Welcome to Trump’s Washington.
