Confusion in Congress as holiday government shutdown looms after failed spending deals: Live
Frustrated House Speaker Mike Johnson forced to return to drawing board once again after Plan B bill defeated in House of Representatives by 235 votes to 174
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Your support makes all the difference.Speaker Mike Johnson and congressional Republicans are scrambling to find a deal to avert a government shutdown before funding runs out at midnight Friday.
Confusion spread throughout the Capitol on Friday morning as members left the speaker’s office. Some said there was a deal on a continuing resolution to fund the government and that they felt good about the state of the process. Others said no agreement had been struck and that they have to keep working to get there, according to Notus.
This comes after Donald Trump and Elon Musk lashed out after Johnson’s Plan B congressional spending bill, drafted at their insistence to include a suspension of the debt limit and remove a number of concessions to Democrats, was comprehensively defeated in the House of Representatives on Thursday night by 235 votes to 174.
The result was a major embarrassment for the incoming president and the GOP that leaves the US government once more hurtling towards a shutdown unless an alternative can be agreed by midnight.
The president-elect responded by complaining in a statement: “Nearly every single House Democrat just voted against government funding and to shut down the government.
“These 197 Democrats voted against keeping the government open, disaster relief, and aid for farmers.”
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Surely nothing this ridiculous could actually happen – or could it?
Here’s more from Josh Marcus.
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Trump backs Johnson amid calls for his ouster over shutdown debacle
The president-elect (so far) isn’t joining calls from some in his party to replace Speaker Johnson at the start of the next Congress, although things are movingly quickly and last night will not have helped the Louisana Republican’s cause.
Johnson won the gavel last October after a protracted fight following the ouster of former speaker Kevin McCarthy – an event touched off by McCarthy’s decision to allow a vote to fund the government on a bipartisan basis rather than forcing a shutdown until passage of a party-line bill more acceptable to hardline conservatives.
Here’s more from Andrew Feinberg on Trump’s current support for Johnson, which may well not last.
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Trump threatens primary challenge to Chip Roy for breaking ranks
The president-elect issued that threat against the deeply conservative Texas GOP congressman yesterday, calling him a “Republican obstructionist” seeking only “cheap publicity for himself”:
Unbowed, Roy responed on social media and then castigated his “asinine” party on the House floor for lacking “an ounce of self-respect” as he voted down the bill:
Democrat tells Republicans: ‘Put on your big boy pants’
The opposition needs to avoid gloating here as the consequences of a federal shutdown are no laughing matter for the American people but the current chaos is also an unmissable opportunity to draw attention to Republican dysfunction.
“Put on your big boy pants,” Florida Representative Jared Moskowitz told the GOP in the House yesterday, just days after he was reported to be Trump’s choice to run FEMA (and politely declined).
“Pass your own bill. We’re only here because you guys can’t agree amongst yourselves.”
Speaking in the aftermath of yesterday’s disaster, Moskowitz’s Texas colleague Jasmine Crockett told MSNBC: “I’m just gonna sit back. We’re looking at this like, this is their problem.”
She continued: “We have seen this play out over and over in the entire two years that I’ve been in Congress.
“But here’s the deal: There is no fixing this without the Democrats.
“We have seen this over and over, and I’m just gonna sit back and sip my tea and wait on them to figure it out.”
Team Trump slaps back at claims Musk is running the show
California Democratic Representative Barbara Lee warned on CNN last night that allowing Elon Musk to “run our government really has grave consequences on the American people”.
Comments like that over the last 24 hours have forced Trump’s tranisition team to insist that it is the president-elect who is really in charge of their incoming administration, not Musk, a humiliating business for all concerned and very much not a good look for the administration exactly one month before it takes office.
Here’s more from Rhian Lubin.
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Analysis: Elon blows up Congress – and the illusion of Mike Johnson’s power
An agreement was struck. Washington was ready to leave for the holidays having come together on a plan to fund the government and avert a shutdown – albeit with some grumbling on the MAGA right.
But then Elon Musk jumped in.
Here’s John Bowden and Andrew Feinberg on another fine mess the unelected billionaire has gotten the GOP into.
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Trump continues to insist on debt ceiling removal despite House defeat
These are the latest Truth Social posts from the president-elect, which find him not addressing his defeat directly but digging in his heels nonetheless – and also ramping up his tariff threats against America’s friends and neighbours, perhaps hoping to fund the federal government that way.
All of which is a long way from yesterday’s triumphalism before the vote, which prematurely hailed: “SUCCESS in Washington!”
Trump, Musk blame Democrats for tanking spending bill despite 38 Republicans voting against it
Good morning!
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have lashed out after House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Plan B congressional spending bill, drafted at their insistence to include a suspension of the debt limit and remove a number of concessions to Democrats, was comprehensively defeated in the House of Representatives last night by 235 votes against to 174 for.
The result is a major embarrassment for the GOP and the incoming president that leaves the US government once more hurtling towards a shutdown unless an alternative can be agreed by midnight tonight.
This is what the president-elect had to say in a statement in response:
“Nearly every single House Democrat just voted against government funding and to shut down the government.
“These 197 Democrats voted against keeping the government open, disaster relief, and aid for farmers.
“As Vice President-elect JD Vance said, Democrats ‘asked for a shutdown and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get.’”
Elon, the great disrupter, lashed out on X along similar lines:
None of that is true, however, as Trump and Musk’s bullying tactics also failed to convince no fewer than 38 Republicans.
This was the immediate reaction from Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries:
Here’s a full report from Alex Woodward and Eric Garcia.
Democrats tank ‘laughable’ Trump-backed spending deal with help from conservatives
Trump and Elon Musk had commanded Congress to derail bipartisan resolution and bring on shutdown
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