Republicans reportedly eye stopgap deal and raising debt limit after Trump inauguration in race to avert shutdown – US politics live
House Republicans eye funding government till March, raising debt limit after Trump inaugurated – report
In their closed-door conference meeting, House Republican leaders have proposed authorizing government funding until March, and increasing the debt ceiling after Donald Trump inaugurated and the GOP takes control of Congress, Punchbowl News reports.
It is unclear if their funding proposal can be enacted before midnight, when a government shutdown begins, or if it will be acceptable to Trump, who has demanded the limit on how much debt the US government can hold be increased while Joe Biden remains president.
According to Punchbowl, House Republicans have proposed two options for funding the government over the next three months: one that can be passed today but will require Democratic votes and excludes aid for farmers and disaster relief, or a second bill that authorizes both the aid and the spending, but under House rules can only be voted on tomorrow.
As for the debt limit, Punchbowl says Republican leaders have reached an “agreement” to increase it by $1.5tn in the first major piece of legislation Trump is expected to sign, and will couple it with $2.5tn in spending cuts. They note that they will target for reduction mandatory government spending – a category that includes Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, as well as programs to fight poverty and help poor people afford food.
Key events
If the government shuts down, Jean-Pierre warned that it could hamper preparations to transition to the second Trump administration.
“If there is a shutdown, and I don’t want to get too much into hypotheticals, but this is the reality, transition activities will be restricted,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’re doing everything to ensure a smooth transition, but the choice to allow a transition to move forward is with in the hands of Republicans in Congress.”
Government has warned employees that shutdown could happen
The US government has begun warning its employees that a shutdown could happen, Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“We believe that there’s still time for Congress to prevent a partial shutdown. We believe that, but in the interest of prudent planning, we want to be prudent here, agencies did start notifying their employees for of their potential furlough today at noon,” the White House press secretary said.
Biden spokesperson says White House holds Trump and Musk responsible for crisis
Karine Jean-Pierre made clear the White House views Donald Trump and Elon Musk as responsible for the breakdown in the spending deal that has brought the government to the brink of a shutdown.
“Congressional Republicans did what they did because of what the president-elect said, and what Elon Musk said, that’s the reality,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Joe Biden has not spoken publicly or issued any statements about the potential government shutdown, but press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said he has been in touch with House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats.
“All Americans need to know is that Republicans are getting in the way here, and they are the ones who have created this mess,” Jean-Pierre said.
She said that Biden’s silence on the issue is in keeping with a strategy he has used before when dealing with Congress: “This is not the first time we’ve been here, and the president has had this approach before. He understands how Congress works. He’s been around for some time. He understand what strategy works here to get this done.”
White House accuses Republicans of ‘doing the bidding of their billionaire friends’ as shutdown nears
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned Republicans for their alliance with billionaires, which she blamed for upending congressional funding talks and bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown.
“Republicans blew up this deal – they did – and they need to fix this, period,” Jean-Pierre said. “[Republicans need] to stop playing politics with a government shutdown, and … they’re doing the bidding of their billionaire friends, that’s what we’re seeing, at the expense of hard-working Americans.”
Jean-Pierre did not name names, but billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy both loudly condemned a bipartisan spending deal that Congress was expected earlier this week to approve, before ultimately abandoning it at Donald Trump’s urging.
Referring to Trump and congressional Republicans, including speaker Mike Johnson, Jean-Pierre said: “This is a mess that they created, and they need to fix this.”
House Republicans to meet as they seek resolution of spending fiasco
House Republicans will soon convene and discuss their latest plan to prevent a government shutdown from beginning at midnight, and answer Donald Trump’s demands for a spending bill that also raises the debt ceiling.
CNN reports that lawmakers will meet at 12.30pm, with much to be decided. Media reports indicate that the House speaker, Mike Johnson, will propose breaking up what was one big spending bill into multiple single-issue bills that will keep the government open for another three months and approve aid for disaster relief and to farmers. But, despite Trump’s request, the speaker will not propose legislation to increase the debt ceiling – which could spark opposition in the GOP conference.
In order for legislation to pass today, it will need to attract a two-thirds majority of votes in the House, which means many Democrats will have to be on board. If the GOP wants to enact it with a simple majority, it will need to pass it through the rules committee, and wait until tomorrow for a floor vote. If they go the latter path, government funding will lapse, but perhaps only briefly.
Hanging over all these negotiations is the question of whether Congress can pass any spending legislation before midnight, when the government shuts down.
At this point, it appears impossible to prevent a shutdown with legislation that passes with only a simple majority. Such legislation must first go through the rules committee, and cannot be voted on the same day that committee reports it out.
As Fox News reports, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the Republicans will instead have to pass legislation under suspension of rules, in which legislation must get a two-thirds majority to pass the House. That plan would require at least some Democratic support to succeed. And needless to say, any legislation the House approves must also pass the Senate.
Elon Musk says latest talks on funding bill sound ‘promising’
Elon Musk reacted positively to the news that House Republicans may split up their government funding bill into three separate parts.
On X, Musk wrote:
Sounds promising
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who co-chair the quasi-governmental “department of government efficiency”, were instrumental in torpedoing a bipartisan spending deal that Congress was expected to approve earlier this week, and bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown.
House Republicans still have not announced their latest plan to both prevent a government shutdown and answer Donald Trump’s demands, but Punchbowl News has details of what may they may come up with.
Rather than passing one big government funding bill – which was the original suggestion, until Trump and Elon Musk did that in earlier this week – Punchbowl says Republicans will propose enacting three different pieces of legislation.
One bill will extend government funding till March, the second will approve money for disaster relief across the country and the third will reauthorize government support for agriculture.
Perhaps crucially, the plan does not include an increase or suspension of the debt limit – which was one of Trump’s top requests.
Why might House Republicans be talking to the Democrats again?
Axios reports that Pete Aguilar, chair of the House Democratic caucus, says he does not think the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, will be able to get his legislation passed without at least some Democratic votes:
House Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar told me Republicans can ‘probably not’ pass anything short of the original deal without consulting Jeffries.
House Republican leaders are again speaking with their Democratic colleagues, after communications between the two sides broke down yesterday.
Punchbowl News reports that the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, told Democratic lawmakers today that the GOP has gotten back in touch.
Earlier in the day, Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip, told CNN that the Republicans had not tried negotiating with her party:
They are now not talking with us. They are continuing the chaos and infighting, and we will see what they do this morning. But we stand here ready to fight for the working people of this country who expect Congress to fulfill this fundamental responsibility of making government work for them.
House Republicans to take another stab at passing spending bill – report
House Republicans will try once again to pass a bill to keep the government open beyond midnight, Politico reports.
It is unclear what is in the bill, but Ralph Norman, a Republican congressman and member of the rightwing House Freedom caucus, said the party will try to pass it via the rules committee – which means it will only need to win a simple majority in the House for approval.
Last night’s spending bill was voted on under suspension of rules, in which legislation requires a two-thirds majority to pass. That effort failed, due to opposition from almost all Democrats, as well some Republicans.
Democratic Senate leader Schumer calls on GOP to honor original government funding deal
In brief remarks from the Senate floor, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer called on Republicans to honor a government funding agreement that appeared set to pass earlier this week, before Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s demands scuttled the deal.
“It’s time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago. It’s time for that. It’s time the House votes on our bipartisan CR,” Schumer said.
“It’s the quickest, simplest and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open, while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people. If the House put our original agreement on the floor today, it would pass, and we could put the threat of a shutdown behind us.”
Punchbowl News reports that the House speaker, Mike Johnson, is considering resolving the funding impasse by breaking up the individual issues into different bills.
But no decision has been made, nor have House Republicans even scheduled votes today. Here’s more, from Punchbowl:
ONE OF THE OPTIONS of many being discussed would be for the leadership to hold separate votes on different titles (parts) in the bill – similar to what Johnson did on foreign aid.
There are some procedural issues w this but they can be overcome.
Of course, if Johnson does this, there’s a chance funding passes and debt limit doesnt. But it could theoretically shift some more pressure on Dems and help grow the GOP vote count.
We’ll see where they end up.
Biden so far silent on spending fiasco
Joe Biden has not commented on the spending fiasco that has unfolded over the past few days.
Today, his public schedule includes only a visit to a children’s hospital in Washington DC in the afternoon. However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will hold a briefing at 12.15pm ET, and likely weigh in on the spending squabble then.
In an interview with CNN today, Democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell was asked why Biden has not yet weighed in publicly. She replied:
I know that he’s been very engaged. I myself talked to the White House multiple times yesterday. Thursday was the anniversary of his first wife’s death. So, he did go to Delaware and went to mass, a ritual I respect. But he’s very much present watching this. I think right now it’s time to see the Republicans, that they’re the ones that wanted to blow up the deal. They’re the ones – so you’re all paying attention to President Musk, and soon to be President Trump again.
Democrats are clearly enjoying watching Republicans squirm as they try to balance Donald Trump’s demands with the political consequences of allowing the government to shut down.
Writing on Bluesky (an X-like social network where many left-leaning accounts have set up shop), Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said:
Republicans would rather cut taxes for billionaire donors than fund research for children with cancer.
That is why our country is on the brink of a government shutdown that will crash the economy, hurt working class Americans and likely be the longest in history.
Welcome back to the MAGA swamp.
JD Vance and Russ Vought, an author of Project 2025 who Donald Trump nominated to lead a powerful White House office, were scheduled to have met this morning with lawmakers in the rightwing Freedom Caucus, Punchbowl News reports.
Members of the Freedom caucus have objected to Trump’s demands to pair a government funding bill with a debt ceiling increase, saying any such demand should be coupled with deep government spending cuts – which are not believed to be on the table in these negotiations.
It’s unclear if the meeting took place, or what came out of it. Vought is set to do lots of this kind of negotiating in the years to come, as Trump has tapped him to serve as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a role he has held before:
