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House Republicans failed to secure the majority of votes needed Thursday on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown later in the week, handing a decisive loss to President-elect Trump in a first test of his ability to unite Republicans in the chamber.
The bill failed by a vote of 235 to 174, including 38 Republicans who voted against the legislation.
Not only did the bill fail the method that allowed lawmakers to fast-track it with a two-thirds majority. It also failed to pass normal standards, which require a threshold of 218 “yes” votes.
TRUMP-BACKED SPENDING BILL TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FAILS HOUSE VOTE
enter the 38 Republicans who voted against the bill it was Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who torched the funding legislation in a speech on the House floor.
Roy, who spent much of the day Thursday sparring with Trump over Roy’s opposition to the deal, noted that the measure would add $5 trillion to the national debt, undermining the GOP’s principle of fiscal responsibility.
Roy said Republicans who voted for the measure lack “self-respect.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, speaks to reporters as he walks near the House Chamber. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“I’m absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the audacity to come forward to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible,” said Roy, who also had opposed the first bill of expenditure law. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Still, the number of Republicans who didn’t fall in line Thursday evening could signal bigger challenges for Trump, who had tried to sway the House speaker. Mike Johnson and others in the House Republican majority to their political will and pass a new bill with a higher debt ceiling.
That bill drew opposition from Democrats, who were more broadly opposed to the idea, and from fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party.
President-elect Trump, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 16. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)
with $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit by 2024, some conservatives oppose a continuing resolution, which sets the funding deadline until March and keeps spending at 2024 levels. The deal Trump had pushed would have included a two-year suspension of the debt limit, causing greater opposition among some Republicans.
‘HELL NO’: HOUSE DEMS Erupt Over GOP Spending Deal
That split put pressure on Democrats, who had widely signaled their intention Thursday to oppose the legislation. Minority leaders spent most of the day lambasting Trump and Elon Musk for interfering with the process and closing the first spending deal, which had been scheduled to pass Wednesday night with bipartisan support.
Ahead of the vote on the new bill Thursday, Democrats led the “hell no” chants, sending a clear signal of their displeasure with the way the new spending bill was drafted.
President-elect Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are fighting to avoid a government shutdown. (Getty Images)
After the bill’s failure, Johnson immediately began meeting with a group of House Republicans who had voted against the bill in a likely attempt to shore up support for another vote on Friday.
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“We’re very disappointed that all but two Democrats voted against helping farmers and ranchers, against disaster relief, against all of these bipartisan measures that had already been negotiated and decided.” , Johnson said after the failed vote. “Again, the only difference in this legislation was that we would push the debt ceiling through January 2027.
“I want you all to remember that it was last spring when the same Democrats scolded the Republicans and said it was irresponsible to hold the debt limit, the debt ceiling hostage.”
