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The 1,547-page stopgap bill to avoid a government shutdown is effectively dead. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has all but pulled the plan after President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance and Elon Musk torched the package to avoid a government shutdown this weekend and fund the government through March 14.
had House Republicans had the votes to pass the bill – without leaning too heavily on Democrats – Republicans may have been able to pass the bill Wednesday afternoon before Mr. Trump and Vance. But there was too much popular pressure, brought on by Musk at X and elsewhere.
The interim spending package proved unpopular due to its size, and several legislative ornaments adorned the bill like a Christmas tree. Conservatives had hoped Johnson would handle the spending plan differently this year over the holidays. But it backfired. bad
It should be noted that Mr. Trump didn’t weigh in until the 11th hour. He also called for an increase in the debt ceiling. That’s something that confronted the president-elect in the first quarter of the year and threatened to derail any legislative agenda or potentially spook the markets.
Johnson’s decision to veer off course, despite promoting the project candidly on Fox this morning, underscores several things.
President-elect Donald Trump reacts during his meeting with Prince William, Prince of Wales at the residence of the United Kingdom Embassy on December 7, 2024 in Paris, France. (Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)
This is a sign of things to come once President-elect Trump is in charge And could this present problems for Johnson, as he may be at the whim of the new president’s decisions?
Why did Johnson pull the bill?
He was very unpopular among his base. But it evolved further once Musk and the president-elect became infused.
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In many ways, Johnson’s decision to withdraw the bill was on January 3rd. This is the day of the presidential vote. With 434 members to start the new congressJohnson needs 218 votes. Otherwise, he lacks a majority and cannot be president. The House must vote repeatedly, as it did in January 2023, before electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) five days later in what was the longest presidential run since the decade of 1850.
Johnson tried to save himself the president’s vote by adding emergency farm spending to the bill. But Johnson is now trying to save himself with a new bill.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) listens during a news conference after the Republican conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on January 17, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The irony is that Johnson did not want to create drama before Christmas with a spending package. But drama is exactly what he got in what quickly became the worst congressional holiday showdown since the fiscal cliff in 2012 or a threatened government shutdown in 2014.
So here’s the $64,000 question: What play does Johnson call next?
Does it do a clean CR to fund the government with nothing attached? Is this a bill that only restores current funding along with disaster relief? Attach a debt ceiling suspension as President-elect Trump has called for?
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And then the biggest question of all: can ANYTHING happen? Especially without votes of the democrats?
Johnson has a section of conservatives who will not vote for any CR. Many of them would not vote for a debt ceiling increase either.
And even if there is a new bill, the Tories insist on waiting three days to think about this bill? That causes a government shutdown right there.
The US Capitol in Washington, DC on Monday, November 11, 2024. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Deadline is Friday at 11:59:59 PM ET.
So this will require someone to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
President-elect Trump’s move today is reminiscent of a similar move he made in December 2019, which led to the longest government shutdown in history.
Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), then-Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and others thought they had a deal to fund the government and avoid a closure for Christmas.
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The Senate voted in favor of the bill. Senators even sat in the back of the chamber and sang carols during the vote.
Mr Trump then backed out at the last minute. House Republicans followed suit. The government shut down for over a month.
