U.S. President-elect Donald Trump influenced Republican lawmakers to reject a bipartisan agreement on temporary government funding, which had been designed to avert a government shutdown.
Facing a deadline to fund federal agencies by the night of December 20, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress agreed on December 18 to a bill that would provide funding to keep the government running until mid-March, avoiding a situation where government workers would go without pay over Christmas.
However, Trump, along with several senior allies, including tech billionaire Elon Musk, opposed the bill. In a joint statement with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, Trump described the concessions to Democrats in the bill as "a betrayal of the country" and urged Republicans to "be smarter and tougher."
A bipartisan consensus is required to pass any spending bill in both the House, where Republicans hold a narrow majority, and the Senate. Trump's significant influence over Republicans led to the rejection of the bill, which included provisions for maintaining current government funding levels, allocating $100 billion for disaster relief, and $10 billion for agricultural aid. However, it also contained unrelated items, such as pay raises for lawmakers and regulations on hidden hotel fees. The bill did not cover automatic programs like Social Security, which continue without reauthorization.
The temporary measure was deemed necessary because Congress had failed to pass regular appropriations for the fiscal year that began on October 1.
Trump argued that Congress should limit the bill to temporary funding and disaster relief while addressing the national debt ceiling, a politically contentious issue expected to peak next year. "If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they’ll do it in June during our administration?" Trump and Vance wrote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to present a "Plan B" after the rejection of the bill. If Congress fails to extend the deadline, most federal operations will cease at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, December 21, though the full impact of a shutdown would not be felt until Monday, December 23.
The U.S. government has spent more than it collected for over two decades, with Democrats expanding healthcare programs and Republicans cutting taxes. Meanwhile, an aging population is expected to drive up costs for retirement and healthcare programs in the coming years. The steadily rising national debt, now at $36 trillion, will force lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling eventually. Failure to address the debt ceiling could shock bond markets and cause severe economic consequences. Trump’s comments followed Musk’s similar stance, in which the Tesla CEO suggested that those supporting the spending bill should be removed from office. Musk, who spent over $250 million on Trump’s campaign, has been tasked by the president-elect to cut federal spending.
House Republicans who helped negotiate the spending bill said Musk's opposition complicated efforts to pass it. "There’s no easy solution to any of the issues we’re facing," said House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole.
Democrats criticized Trump’s intervention as a sign of future turmoil. "House Republicans were ordered to shut down the government and hurt the American working class they claim to support. Break the bipartisan deal, and you bear the consequences," said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Many Republicans opposed the additional spending and unrelated provisions added to the bill.
In the past, Trump has occasionally supported government shutdowns, including the 2018-2019 shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, lasting 34 days.
(Sources: Reuters, AFP)
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