President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans blew up hopes of a bipartisan spending bill days before Christmas. The agreement would have avoided a shutdown and included roughly $100 billion in funding to provide needed relief to disaster stricken areas around the country. This includes those in need of relief after wildfires in the west, and devastating floods in the east.
The deal was approved by Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, who acknowledged he would likely need the support of Democrats given his party’s slim majority. Democratic leadership also supported the bill.
But on Wednesday, Donald Trump and Elon Musk took to social media to express their displeasure at Republicans for working across the aisle.
Musk inexplicably called the bill “criminal”. He posted on Twitter (X) any lawmaker supporting “this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years.”
Johnson reportedly spoke with both Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the heads of Trump’s new government program D.O.G.E. Both came out in opposition to the bill once it was released.
JD Vance also posted on X, claiming the stopgap spending bill “makes it easier to hide the records of the corrupt Jan 6 committee”. Vance, on behalf of himself and Trump, called for “a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS.”
The Vice President-elect concluded the joint statement with “THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT.”
However, it was in fact Mr. Trump’s rejection of this deal that threw the process into chaos.
Johnson’s future in jeopardy as country could see first shutdown since Trump left office
The issue is also throwing Johnson’s future as Speaker into jeopardy. Several far-right Republicans have already noted they will not support him should he run for Speaker again in January.
Democrats and many Republicans hoped the bipartisan agreement would help the country avoid a shutdown before the holidays. Now, as a result of Trump’s intervention, the government will shut down at midnight on Friday, December 20th if no spending bill is passed.
Democratic National Committee chairman Jamie Harrison issued a statement blaming Trump for the impending shutdown.
“Let’s be clear: Trump and his MAGA Republicans broke a bipartisan agreement,” Harrison wrote. “[They] now own any shutdown that comes out of their wildly irresponsible and out-of-touch priorities.”
Neither Trump, Musk, nor Vance have offered any clear parameters for an acceptable budget.
If a shutdown occurs, it would mark the first time in Biden’s presidency that congress has failed to reach a spending deal.
The government shut down twice during the Trump presidency. One of those shutdowns was the longest in history, lasting five weeks. The other occurred when Trump’s party had full control of Congress, and the former president still couldn’t get a spending deal.
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