The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is up outside the building where GOP leaders are furiously scrambling to find a way to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the day on Friday.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
hide caption
toggle caption
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
After two failed attempts, and with just hours to go before a midnight deadline, House Republicans say they have agreed amongst themselves on a new proposal to fund the government — but multiple hurdles remain to avert a government shutdown.
Emerging from a nearly two-hour meeting with Republican members, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that the conference was “unified” around a plan, but did not share details.
“There is a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward,” Johnson told reporters. “But I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays.”
House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise told reporters that the package may not include a provision to raise the debt ceiling — something President-elect Donald Trump had demanded this week, but ultimately helped sink an earlier proposal. Scalise said “ultimately we will bring something to the floor” on the debt ceiling, but it would not necessarily be in this current proposal.
The third attempt to avert a shutdown comes as House Republicans have spent the week trying to balance President-elect Donald Trump’s policy demands with the realities of Congress. The trouble for Johnson began when Trump and his top advisors, namely Tesla founder Elon Musk, trashed a bipartisan deal that died soon thereafter.
But the new House Republican plan was developed without any input of Democrats, and any agreement to keep the government open will need support of Democratic Senators and President Biden. Johnson may also need Democratic votes to pass the measure through the House, if he opts for a fast-tracked process that requires a higher vote threshold.
The funding clash evoked a sense of deja vu from Trump’s first term, when he would often change his demands in real time and by surprise announcement on social media. And it illustrates the challenges Republicans will likely face for the next two years, attempting to pass legislation with razor-thin majorities while Trump returns to Washington with his familiar governing style of upheaval and intraparty drama.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
