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The United States could face a government shutdown at midnight Saturday after President-elect Donald Trump asked Republican lawmakers to reject a bipartisan funding bill that would have kept the government funded through March.
Trump urged Congress to scrap the deal and pass a slimmer version with fewer provisions. His intervention came after strong criticism of the bill by technology billionaire Elon Musk.
Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican House majority leader, indicated Wednesday night that the bill was dead after Trump denounced it.
Congress will need to pass the short-term funding bill before the weekend to prevent federal government offices from closing starting Saturday.
Now, Republican leadership must go back to the drawing board, and they only have until 11:59 p.m. EDT (04:59 GMT) to reach a deal before funding expires and the government shuts down.
A government shutdown would cause federal services, from the National Park Service to the Border Patrol, to limit and begin shutting down operations this weekend.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance dealt the final blow to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s bipartisan funding bill on Wednesday night, following a Musk-led pressure campaign on X.
Musk, who has been tasked by Trump with cutting government spending in his future administration, lobbied hard against the existing agreement and repeatedly posted against the bill on Wednesday, often with false statements.
The president and vice president-elect are pushing to expedite legislation that does not include Democratic-backed provisions that Johnson negotiated with his colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
The now-dead bipartisan deal would have extended government funding through March 14, several months after Trump returns to the White House.
The legislation is necessary because Congress never passed a budget for fiscal year 2025, which began Oct. 1. Instead, lawmakers opted to approve a short-term funding extension through Dec. 20.
They also called, in a joint statement, for Congress to raise the debt ceiling, which determines how much the government can borrow to pay its bills, and limit funding legislation to temporary spending and disaster relief.
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary NO DEMOCRATIC GIVEAWAY funding bill combined with an increase in the debt ceiling,” the statement said. read.
Anything else they described as “betrayal of our country.”
In posts on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump threatened to help unseat “any Republican who was stupid enough to” vote for the current version of the bill, which was unveiled Tuesday.
“If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then call their bluff,” he said.
Johnson’s 1,500-page continuing resolution included more than $110 billion (£88 billion) in emergency disaster relief and $30 billion (£23 billion) in aid to farmers. It also included the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009, federal funding to rebuild a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore, health care reforms and provisions aimed at preventing hotels and live event venues from receiving misleading advertising.
It is unclear how Johnson plans to proceed. Both parties will meet on Thursday to decide the way forward for their party.
Democrats are unlikely to help Johnson with their support for a revamped funding bill, blaming him for breaking their bipartisan deal.
“If you break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement after Trump spoke out against the bill, saying: “Republicans must stop playing politics with this bipartisan deal or they will hurt the hard-working Americans and will create instability throughout the country.
“Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families,” President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman continued, adding: “A deal is a deal. Republicans must keep their word.”
There have been 21 U.S. government shutdowns or partial shutdowns over the past five decades, the longest of which was during Trump’s first term, when the government was shut down for 35 days.
