Trump criticizes House government funding deal, demands debt ceiling increase

WASHINGTON — President-elect donald trump He said Thursday that he would rather House Republicans refuse to fund the federal government than support a funding bill that does not include a debt ceiling increase.

“We must end Republican obstructionists,” Trump aware, referring to House GOP members who refuse to support an increase in the debt ceiling that Trump wants. He singled out Texas Rep. Chip Roy and accused him of “standing in the way, as usual, of achieving another Great Republican Victory.”

“It is much better for our country to shut down for a period of time than to accept the things Democrats want to impose on us,” the president-elect wrote in Truth Social.

House Republican leaders were running out of time Thursday to avoid a partial government shutdown that begins Friday night, after Triumph and his allies passed a compromise bill to fund the government through March.

Senior party members spent much of Thursday in and out of President Mike Johnson’s Capitol offices, where talks focused on finding a way to keep the federal government open while meeting Trump’s last-minute demand. that any agreement to finance the The government also raises the debt ceiling.

However, even if House Republicans could reach a deal on funding that would appease both Trump and the warring factions in the GOP caucus, any bill they passed would still have to be approved by the Senate. controlled by Democrats before President Joe Biden signs it into law.

Meanwhile, outside of the leadership talks, members of the House and Senate were increasingly nervous that Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, could not find a way to move forward in time to avoid the possible suspension of tens of thousands of federal employees across the country. whose payment could be delayed less than a week before Christmas.

“A shutdown solves nothing. It doesn’t save us money. It just creates unnecessary chaos,” Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports.

“To pass something, you need to have bipartisan support,” he said. “Democrats will be needed, at a minimum, in the Senate, but most likely in the House, to support a continuing resolution,” he said.

Thursday’s tension followed the very public collapse Wednesday of a huge negotiated funding bill that would have needed Democratic votes to pass in the closely divided House.

trump formal opposition to the bill Wednesday night came only after billionaire GOP megadonor Elon Musk He spent the day criticizing the bill, gradually making it politically impossible for much of the House Republican conference to support it.

“Raising the debt ceiling is not good, but we would prefer to do it under Biden’s direction,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday announcing his opposition to Johnson’s original bill.

“If Democrats don’t cooperate now on the debt ceiling, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats all they want,” Trump said.

The debt ceiling has become a bitter, recurring debate in Washington every few years, and one that Trump is eager to avoid during the start of his second term.

But their demands and Thursday’s impasse could prove too much for Johnson, who now faces a potential threat to his presidency, which will come up for a vote early next year.