On Thursday, December 19th, in order to avoid a government shutdown at midnight on Friday, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have formulated a new plan and are set to vote on it on Thursday evening.
The plan, as reported by The Hill, includes a three-month short-term funding extension and a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling provisions. President-elect Trump opposed the interim spending agreement reached by both parties on Wednesday and insisted that the agreement should include raising or eliminating the debt ceiling.
The new plan is said to also include around $100 billion in disaster relief funds for victims of hurricanes and about $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers. It retains the funding items agreed upon in the earlier bipartisan agreement this week but excludes issues like congressional pay raises and drug pricing reforms.
Both parties have been trying to package as many priorities as possible before the 118th Congress adjourns and tie them to the necessary government funding measures.
The possibility of a government shutdown at 12:01 am on Friday is mounting. Any revised omnibus plan would need approval first from the Republican-led House of Representatives and then from the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Democrats have expressed frustration over the new agreement following Trump’s lack of support for the spending deal reached earlier this week, led by House Minority Leader Mike Johnson and other congressional leaders.
Trump voiced his personal views through statements and social media posts on Wednesday, expressing his desire for a stopgap bill that includes disaster relief and assistance for farmers, along with a provision to raise or eliminate the national debt ceiling to ensure timely payments to creditors and prevent default.
However, he also called for Republicans to abandon what he referred to as “pork-filled” bills, containing many unrelated provisions from funding for the Baltimore Bridge to drug pricing managers’ new rules and a trade deal with Haiti.
Trump also hinted that any Republicans opposing debt ceiling adjustments will face major challenges in the next election.
Trump told NBC News that completely eliminating the debt ceiling would be the “smartest thing Congress can do” and he would “fully support it”.
The dispute over the debt ceiling has become a major sticking point between the two parties as it was not considered in the ongoing spending negotiations for weeks.
Democrats were enraged by the Republican withdrawal from the agreement in a closed-door meeting. Democratic leaders internally stated they would not abandon their support for the previous proposal.
However, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not rule out the possibility of supporting a streamlined bill. “We will continue to keep communication channels open,” he said, though he noted that now is not the time to debate the debt ceiling.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal citing a House Democratic aide familiar with the discussions, a Democratic congressman opposed raising the debt ceiling during the meeting, claiming that Republicans were doing so to advance their agenda without the debt restrictions.
Many hawkish Republican lawmakers also fundamentally oppose raising the debt ceiling. In the last debt ceiling vote in May 2023, 71 House Republicans voted against it.
Louisiana Republican Congressman Clay Higgins stated that there are intense discussions taking place between the speakership team, Trump’s team, hardline Freedom Caucus, and other factions within the Republican party.
Vice President-elect Pence met with relevant lawmakers in Johnson’s office on Wednesday night.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota stated, “My understanding is that (Vice President-elect) and the Speaker are working to resolve this issue.”
Johnson’s slim majority in the House may require some Democratic support to pass government budget funding bills.
Critics within the Republican party complained that Johnson made too many concessions during negotiations with Democrats, allowing a bill intended as a simple stopgap measure to be filled with unrelated provisions. Critics also argued that lawmakers did not have enough time to review such a massive bill.
The failure of the agreement has prompted doubts about Johnson’s future as Speaker.
Trump stated that he continues to support Johnson in the position. He told Fox News in an interview that if Johnson takes “decisive and tough action” to eliminate “all traps set by the Democrats,” he would “easily maintain the speakership”.
For the past two years, Republicans have been struggling to pass major spending bills, heavily relying on Democratic votes. The current Republican majority in the House is 219-211.
If no bills are passed, the federal government will partially shut down this weekend, leading to temporary furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, but critical services will continue to operate.