A day before a potential government shutdown, the House resoundingly rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s new plan to fund operations and suspend the debt ceiling, as Democrats and dozens of Republicans refused to accommodate his sudden demands.
In a hastily convened vote on the evening of Dec. 19 punctuated by angry outbursts over the self-made crisis, the lawmakers failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage – but House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared determined to reassess before the midnight deadline on Dec. 20.
“We’re going to regroup and we will come up with another solution, so stay tuned,” Mr. Johnson said after the vote. The cobbled-together plan didn’t even get a majority, with the bill failing 174-235.
The outcome proved a massive setback for Mr. Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, who rampaged against Mr. Johnson’s bipartisan compromise, which Republicans and Democrats had reached earlier to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown.
It provides a preview of the turbulence ahead when Mr. Trump returns to the White House with Republican control of the House and Senate. During his first term, Mr. Trump led Republicans into the longest government shutdown in history during the 2018 Christmas season, and interrupted the holidays in 2020 by tanking a bipartisan COVID-relief bill and forcing a do-over.
Hours earlier on Dec. 19, Mr. Trump announced “SUCCESS in Washington!” in coming up with the new package which would keep the government running for three more months, add $100.4 billion in disaster assistance including for hurricane-hit states, and allow more borrowing through Jan. 30, 2027.
“Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal,” Mr. Trump posted.
But Republicans, who had spent 24 hours largely negotiating with themselves to cut out the extras conservatives opposed and come up with the new plan, ran into a wall of resistance from Democrats, who were in no hurry to appease demands from Mr. Trump – or Mr. Musk.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were sticking with the original deal with Mr. Johnson and called the new one “laughable.”
“It’s not a serious proposal,” Mr. Jeffries said as he walked to Democrats’ own closed-door caucus meeting. Inside, Democrats were chanting, “Hell, no!”
All day, Mr. Johnson had been fighting to figure out how to meet Mr. Trump’s almost impossible demands – and keep his own job – while federal offices are being told to prepare to shutter operations.
The new proposal whittled the 1,500-page bill to 116 pages and dropped a number of add-ons – notably the first pay raise for lawmakers in more than a decade, which could have allowed as much as a 3.8% bump. That drew particular scorn as Mr. Musk turned his social media army against the bill.
Mr. Trump said early on Dec. 20 that Mr. Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” in coming up with a new plan to also raise the debt limit, a stunning request just before the Christmas holidays that has put the beleaguered speaker in a bind.
And if not, the president-elect warned of trouble ahead for Mr. Johnson and Republicans in Congress.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Mr. Trump told Fox News Digital.
The tumultuous turn of events, coming as lawmakers were preparing to head home for the holidays, sparks a familiar reminder of what it’s like in Trump-run Washington.
Mr. Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance tried to blame Democrats, though rank-and-file Republicans helped sink Mr. Trump’s plan.
“They’ve asked for a shutdown,” Mr. Vance said of Democrats. “That’s exactly what they’re going to get.”
For Mr. Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of a Jan. 3 House vote to remain speaker, Mr. Trump’s demands left him severely weakened, forced to abandon his word with Democrats and work into the night to broker the new approach.
Mr. Trump’s allies even floated the far-fetched idea of giving Mr. Musk the speaker’s gavel, since the speaker is not required to be a member of the Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted she was “open” to the idea.
Democrats were beside themselves, seeing this as a fitting coda after one of the most unproductive congressional sessions in modern times.
“Here we are once again in chaos,” said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who detailed the harm a government shutdown would cause Americans. “And what for? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, ‘We’re not doing this deal, and Donald Trump followed along.’”
As he left the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement.”
The debate in the House chamber grew heated as lawmakers blamed each other for the mess.
At one point, Rep. Marc Molinaro, who was presiding, slammed the speaker’s gavel with such force that it broke.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Mr. Trump was publicly turning on those who opposed him.
One hardline Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, drew Mr. Trump’s ire for refusing to go along with the plan. Mr. Roy in turn told his own GOP colleagues they had no self-respect for piling onto the nation’s debt.
“It’s shameful!” Mr Roy thundered, standing on the Democratic side of the aisle and pointing at his fellow Republicans.
The slimmed-down package does include federal funds to rebuild Baltimore’s collapsed Key Bridge, but dropped a separate land transfer that could have paved the way for a new Washington Commanders football stadium.
It abandons a long list of other bipartisan bills that had support as lawmakers in both parties try to wrap work for the year. It extends government funds through March 14.
Adding an increase in the debt ceiling to what had been a bipartisan package is a show-stopper for Republicans who want to slash government and routinely vote against more borrowing. Almost three dozen Republicans voted against it.
While Democrats have floated their own ideas in the past for lifting or even doing away with the debt limit caps – Sen. Elizabeth Warren had suggested as much – they appear to be in no bargaining mood to save Mr. Johnson from Mr. Trump – even before the president-elect is sworn into office.
The current debt limit expires Jan. 1, 2025, and Mr. Trump wants the problem off the table before he joins the White House.
Mr. Musk, in his new foray into politics, led the charge. The wealthiest man in the world used his social media platform X to amplify the unrest, and GOP lawmakers were besieged with phone calls to their offices telling them to oppose the plan.
Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican and senior appropriator, said the bipartisan bill’s collapse signaled what’s ahead in the new year, “probably be a good trailer right now for the 119th Congress.”
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget had provided initial communication to agencies about possible shutdown planning last week, according to an official at the agency.
Mr. Johnson left the Capitol late the night of Dec. 19 with only two words when asked about a path forward.
“We’ll see,” he replied.
This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Jill Colvin, Stephen Groves, Farnoush Amiri, and Matt Brown contributed to this report.