US Government Nears Shutdown After Donald Trump Scraps Bipartisan Funding Bill

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The US government could shut down within days of Donald Trump appearing to end the chances of a bipartisan funding bill passing Congress.

The president-elect on Wednesday lashed out at a deal reached between House Republicans and Democrats to keep the federal government funded beyond Friday, urging his allies on Capitol Hill to reject the “foolish” and “inept” compromise. .

Hours later, top Republicans abandoned the legislation and House Speaker Mike Johnson opted not to risk incurring Trump’s ire by calling a vote on the measure in the chamber.

Steve Scalise, another top House Republican, said Wednesday night that the bill was dead. “There are still a lot of negotiations and talks going on, but there is no new agreement,” he told reporters in Washington.

The dramatic collapse of the bipartisan deal just two days before Friday’s deadline followed criticism from Trump on social media, where he said the “only way” to secure a deal would be stopgap funding “NO DEMOCRATIC GIFTS combined with a increase in debt. ceiling”.

And he added: “Anything else is a betrayal of our country.”

The death of the pledge means the government could run out of funds before the weekend, halting some federal programs. Some federal workers would be sent home and pay would be suspended for federal employees, including those serving in the military.

The White House called on Republicans to “stop playing politics” or risk harming Americans and causing instability. “President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect (JD) Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government. . . A deal is a deal. “Republicans should keep their word,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The latest funding crisis caps a turbulent few years for Congress, where right-wing Republicans have repeatedly threatened their own House leadership, including a revolt that toppled then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023.

With a narrow Republican majority in the House, Johnson will need Democrats to pass any continuing resolution to provide temporary funding to the federal government.

A stopgap bill would have kept the $6.75 trillion federal budget at current levels until March 14, when Republicans will control Congress following last month’s victory in the general election. The money keeps a wide range of federal programs afloat, including defense, regulators, national parks and air travel safety.

But Trump and other Republican allies, including billionaire Elon Musk, criticized what they said were spending “gifts” to Democrats in the measure.

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance made a statement saying Republicans needed to “BE SMART and TOUGH,” and “if Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then THEY MUST CALL THEIR FALSES ”.

Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been tasked by Trump to cut government spending when he takes back the White House next year, raged against the bill on social media on Wednesday and threatened what Musk called “corrupt politicians” who could support it.

“Any member of the House or Senate who votes in favor of this outrageous spending bill deserves to be eliminated within two years,” Musk said in a post on his X social media platform.

Musk also opposed the pay increase for politicians that was included in the bill.

Trump also called for any funding deal to include an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling, a rule that governs how much money the federal government can borrow.

Any Republican who “brings the Debt Limit mess to the Trump Administration, instead of allowing it to happen in the Biden Administration. . . should and will be primary,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. Trump’s comment suggests he would endorse rival candidates in primary elections against Republicans who challenged him.

“We’ve been having some conversations about the debt limit in relation to (continuing resolution),” Scalise said Wednesday.

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