Nightmare before Christmas: DC plunges into chaos as government shutdown looms after Republican spending plan fails

Texas Republican senator says spending fight in House ‘is so dysfunctional and so distracting from the things we should be doing’

Congress is scrambling to avoid a government shutdown before funding runs dry Friday night at midnight.

Thirty-eight Republicans voted against a proposal backed by President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday night to keep the government funded and raise the debt ceiling. This came after Trump waded into the debate over the funding deal following repeated outbursts from his newfound confidant Elon Musk.

Speaker Mike Johnson must now find a deal that can keep Trump and the conservatives in his own party on board, that can win the support of a significant number of House Democrats that can find support in the Democratic Senate and White House, and that at the same time allows him to retain the speakership.

While it’s usually a good bet that lawmakers want to go home for the holidays and that shutdowns are seen as a losing proposition, both Trump and Johnson have been considering allowing a shutdown to happen, spending last night looking at the pros and cons, according to Politico.

But Johnson’s team was also looking at the passage of a “clean” continuing resolution to keep the government open until January.

Senate Republicans grew irate Thursday after two proposals to keep the government open failed this week.

“I get weary with the drama associated with this. This is so dysfunctional and so distracting from the things we should be doing,” Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said, according to The Hill. But he still said there was hope that “we’ll pull the rabbit out of the hat” and find a government funding deal before the midnight deadline.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks to the media during a vote on a spending bill. Chaos has errupted in D.C. after its failure (AFP via Getty Images)

Trump ally Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said the failure of Johnson’s latest proposal made a shutdown all but a certainty.

“Shut it down. It’s what’s going to happen. They’re going to shut it down. I guess they’ll try to work it out but, you know, shutting it down isn’t going to make a lot of difference right now,” he said, according to The Hill.

“You could shut it down to January 5 and come back. Everyone’s going to get paid anyway,” Tuberville added in reference to federal workers.

The senator was asked if Trump still has confidence in Johnson.

“We’ll see after this fiasco,” he said.

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul indicated that he wasn’t planning to back the legislation that Johnson tried to get through the House as he doesn’t want to raise the debt ceiling unless it’s accompanied by major cuts in spending.

The deal Johnson took to the floor of the House Thursday night would have raised new spending by $110 billion and the debt ceiling by more than $4 trillion.

Paul and other senators noted they don’t know when the House may pass a deal that makes it to the Senate.

“It’s kind of a s***show over there, so who knows when that’s going to happen,” he said.

The failed vote Thursday night came after frenzied negotiations about how to avert a shutdown following Trump’s shooting down of the more than 1,500-page continuing resolution revealed by congressional leaders Tuesday night.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) speaks to reporters following a vote to pass the American Relief Act on Capitol Hill. Senators have lamented the failure of the house to pass a spending bill (REUTERS)

The president-elect piled the pressure on House Republicans to pass a bill to raise the debt limit in order for President Joe Biden to get the blame for adding to the national debt. Trump suggested extending the debt ceiling until the end of his second term.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after 1 a.m. Friday.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP.’ This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!” he added shortly before 8 a.m.

Johnson’s replacement bill for the shot-down continuing resolution was a 116-page bill to keep the government funded until March 14 which included about $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in farm aid.

But it was called “laughable” by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Democratic lawmakers were heard chanting “hell no” as they met in the Capitol basement.

Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, told reporters that Congress was “dangerously close” to a shutdown.

“I don’t know what the plan is now,” she added, noting that Trump’s call for a debt limit extension “seems to have aggravated the Democrats considerably.”

“We can’t have a government shutdown, and we’re getting dangerously close to that,” she said, according to The Hill. She said she would back a three-week extension to avoid a shutdown and get Congress past the holidays.

GOP senators from states struck hard by Hurricanes Helene and Milton said they wouldn’t support any bill that doesn’t have a substantial amount of disaster relief.

“I don’t think $10 billion or $20 billion and a promise we’ll do something more in March is an acceptable solution,” Sen. Thom Tillis told the media earlier on Thursday. “We know what the need is today, it was negotiated in package and it needs to be in a package to get my support to get out of here.”