US lawmakers reject Republican bill to avert government shutdown

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a Republican-backed funding bill aimed at preventing a government shutdown, with federal agencies facing a cash shortfall that would begin Friday night and lead to a halt in government operations by the weekend.

The proposed legislation sought to fund the government until mid-March and suspend the national debt ceiling for the first two years of President-elect Donald Trump’s term. However, the bill was derailed by a group of fiscal conservatives within the Republican Party who opposed increasing the national debt without addressing broader fiscal concerns. Their rebellion against party leadership resulted in the bill’s failure.

The setback was a blow to House Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, who had championed the plan with the support of tech mogul Elon Musk, Trump's appointed "efficiency czar." Despite the push from party leaders, with no further votes scheduled in the House on Thursday, the race to avert a government shutdown and avoid furloughing 875,000 non-essential workers without pay over the holidays remained unresolved.

"We will regroup and come up with another solution. Stay tuned," Speaker Johnson told reporters, acknowledging the need for a new approach.

The bill was meant to address a larger bipartisan funding package that Trump and Musk had criticized the day before, citing concerns over excessive spending and extraneous items that inflated the cost. The revised version was fast-tracked for a vote, requiring a two-thirds majority, but Democrats refused to support it, and even Republican holdouts failed to back the bill, resulting in its defeat.

“The proposal is not serious; it's laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are pushing us toward a government shutdown,” said Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries before the vote. The White House denounced the bill as a “giveaway to billionaires.”

Republicans are expected to make another attempt on Friday with a more streamlined version of the bill, though party leaders have not outlined a clear plan, and will likely meet to discuss further options.

Funding the government has long been a contentious issue, and this time, lawmakers are under additional pressure due to their inability to finalize a full-year budget for 2025 despite extensive negotiations. The stopgap measure, known as a “continuing resolution” (CR), was intended to keep the government running until mid-March.

Musk, a major Trump ally and donor, spent much of Wednesday urging his 208 million followers on X to oppose the deal, echoing the objections of conservative lawmakers who criticized the bill’s added costs. Just hours later, Trump, seemingly reacting to the backlash, began threatening the political futures of Republicans who might support the measure and demanded changes to the debt limit provisions.

With the government set to begin winding down operations on Saturday, non-essential workers face potential furloughs, while essential staff will be required to work without pay over the holiday period.

Speaker Johnson has come under intense scrutiny for his handling of the negotiations, with his leadership position likely to be challenged when he faces re-election in January. Many feel he misjudged the party’s appetite for the growing costs associated with the continuing resolution and allowed himself to be swayed by Trump and Musk's demands.

In the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, there is little incentive to assist Republicans, with Jeffries insisting that Democrats will only support a bipartisan package. This means the onus will be on the GOP to find a solution on their own—something they have struggled to do on major bills in the current Congress.

Trump’s primary objection to the original CR was that it left him to deal with the debt ceiling increase, a difficult and divisive issue that he wanted included in the bill, rather than postponed for later negotiation.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated President Biden’s position, stating that the president supported the bipartisan effort to keep the government open, not the “giveaway for billionaires” that Republicans were proposing at the last minute.