Republicans fail to pass House spending bill in setback for Trump | American politics

Donald Trump suffered a humiliating setback on Thursday when Republicans in Congress failed to pass a spending-cutting bill – just one day before a potential government shutdown that could disrupt the holiday season.

In a 174-235 vote, the House of Representatives rejected the Trump-backed package, which was quickly assembled by Republican leaders after the president-elect and his billionaire ally Elon Musk rejected an earlier bipartisan deal.

Critics described the breakdown as an early glimpse of the chaos to come when Trump returns to the White House on January 20. Musk’s intervention via a volley of tweets on his social media platform X was derided by Democrats as the work of “President Musk.”

“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters. “This is ridiculous. Extreme Maga Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown.”

Despite Trump’s support, 38 Republicans voted against the new package along with nearly all Democrats, ensuring it fell short of the two-thirds threshold needed to pass and leaving next steps uncertain.

The defiance from Trump’s own party surprised many.

The latest bill would have extended government funding into March, when Trump will be in the White House and Republicans will control both houses of Congress. It also would have provided $100 billion in disaster relief and suspended the debt. Republicans dropped other elements included in the original package, such as a pay raise for members of Congress and new regulations for pharmacy managers.

At Trump’s urging, the new version would also have suspended the limits on the national debt for two years — a move that would make it easier to implement the dramatic tax cuts he has promised and set the stage for the federal government’s $36 billion debt dollars can continue. to climb.

Before the vote, Democrats and Republicans warned that the other party would be to blame if Congress allowed the government to shut down.

Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, told reporters the package would avoid disruptions, tie up loose ends and make it easier for Congress to cut spending by hundreds of billions of dollars when Trump takes office next year. “Government is too big, it does too many things, and it does few things well,” he said.

But Democrats dismissed the bill as a cover for a budget-busting tax cut that would largely benefit wealthy backers like Musk, the world’s richest man, while saddling the country with trillions of dollars in additional debt.

Jeffries said during the floor debate, “How dare you ever lecture America on fiscal responsibility?”

Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman, told reporters: “So who is our leader Hakeem Jeffries going to negotiate with? Is it Mike Johnson? Is it the Speaker of the House. Or is it Donald Trump? Or is it Elon Musk? Or is it someone else?”

Some Republicans protested that the bill would pave the way for more debt while failing to reduce spending. Congressman Chip Roy said, “I am absolutely sick of the party campaigning on fiscal responsibility.”

Even if the bill had passed the House, it would have faced long odds in the Senate, which is currently controlled by Democrats. The White House said Joe Biden opposed the package, adding: “Republicans are doing the bidding of their billionaire benefactors at the expense of hardworking Americans.”

Previous battles over the debt ceiling have spooked financial markets, as a US government default would send credit shocks around the world. The border has been suspended under a deal that technically expires Jan. 1, though Congress likely won’t have to address the issue until the spring.

The unrest also threatens to topple Johnson, who was unexpectedly thrust into the speaker’s office last year after the party’s right flank voted out then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy over a government-aid bill. Johnson has repeatedly had to turn to Democrats for help passing legislation when he has been unable to deliver the votes of his own party. He tried the same maneuver on Thursday but fell short.

Several Republicans said they would not vote for Johnson as speaker when Congress returns in January, potentially setting off another tumultuous leadership battle in the weeks before Trump takes office.

Public funding expires at midnight on Friday. If Congress fails to extend that deadline, the U.S. government will begin a partial shutdown that will cut funding for everything from border enforcement to national parks and cut paychecks for more than 2 million federal workers.

The US Transportation Security Administration has warned that travelers during the busy holiday season may face long lines at airports.