By LISA MASCARO, FARNOUSH AMIRI and MATT BROWN, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Going through a authorities shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed by last passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that will quickly fund federal operations and catastrophe assist, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for for a debt restrict enhance into the brand new yr.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and never enable federal operations to shutter forward of the Christmas vacation season. However the day’s consequence was unsure after Trump doubled down on his insistence {that a} debt ceiling enhance be included in any deal — if not, he stated in an early morning put up, let the closures “start now.”
The Home authorized Johnson’s new invoice overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate labored into the evening to cross it, 85-11, simply previous the deadline. At midnight, the White Home stated it had ceased shutdown preparations.
“This is a good outcome for the country, ” Johnson stated after the Home vote, including he had spoken with Trump and the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”
President Joe Biden, who has performed a much less public position within the course of all through a turbulent week, was anticipated to signal the measure into regulation Saturday.
“There will be no government shutdown,” Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer stated.
The ultimate product was the third try from Johnson, the beleaguered Home speaker, to attain one of many primary necessities of the federal authorities — conserving it open. And it raised stark questions on whether or not Johnson will be capable of hold his job, within the face of indignant GOP colleagues, and work alongside Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who referred to as the legislative performs from afar.
Trump’s last-minute demand was nearly an unattainable ask, and Johnson had nearly no selection however to work round his strain for a debt ceiling enhance. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be sufficient help inside the GOP majority to cross any funding bundle, since many Republican deficit hawks want to slash federal authorities and definitely wouldn’t enable extra debt.
As a substitute, the Republicans, who can have full management of the White Home, Home and Senate subsequent yr, with massive plans for tax cuts and different priorities, are exhibiting they have to routinely depend on Democrats for the votes wanted to maintain up with the routine operations of governing.
“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” scoffed Musk on social media forward of the vote.
The drastically slimmed-down 118-page bundle would fund the federal government at present ranges by March 14 and add $100 billion in catastrophe assist and $10 billion in agricultural help to farmers.
Gone is Trump’s demand to elevate the debt ceiling, which GOP leaders instructed lawmakers could be debated as a part of their tax and border packages within the new yr. Republicans made a so-called handshake settlement to lift the debt restrict at the moment whereas additionally slicing $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.
It’s basically the identical deal that flopped the evening earlier than in a spectacular setback — opposed by most Democrats and a number of the most conservative Republicans — minus Trump’s debt ceiling demand.
Nevertheless it’s far smaller than the unique bipartisan accord Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page invoice that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start out over. It was filled with an extended record of different payments — together with much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but additionally different measures with broad bipartisan help that now have a harder path to turning into regulation.
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Home Democrats have been cool to the most recent effort after Johnson reneged on the hard-fought bipartisan compromise.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the highest Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, stated it appeared like Musk, the wealthiest man on this planet, was calling the photographs for Trump and Republicans.
“Who is in charge?” she requested through the debate.
Nonetheless, the Democrats put up extra votes than Republicans for the invoice’s passage. Nearly three dozen conservative Republicans voted in opposition to it.
“The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation,” Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries stated after the vote, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Trump, who has not but been sworn into workplace, is exhibiting the facility but additionally the bounds of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who’s heading up the brand new Division of Authorities Effectivity.
The incoming Trump administration vows to slash the federal price range and fireplace 1000’s of workers and is relying on Republicans for an enormous tax bundle. And Trump’s not frightened of shutdowns the way in which lawmakers are, having sparked the longest authorities shutdown in historical past in his first time period on the White Home.
“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now,” Trump posted early within the morning on social media.
Extra essential for the president-elect was his demand for pushing the thorny debt ceiling debate off the desk earlier than he returns to the White Home. The federal debt restrict expires Jan. 1, and Trump doesn’t need the primary months of his new administration saddled with robust negotiations in Congress to elevate the nation’s borrowing capability. Now Johnson will likely be on the hook to ship.
“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump posted — rising his demand for a brand new five-year debt restrict enhance. “Without this, we should never make a deal.”
Authorities staff had already been instructed to organize for a federal shutdown that will ship thousands and thousands of workers — and members of the navy — into the vacation season with out paychecks.
Biden has been in discussions with Jeffries and Schumer, however White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated: “Republicans blew up this deal. They did, and they need to fix this.”
Because the day dragged on, Senate Republican Chief Mitch McConnell stepped in to remind colleagues “how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it.”
At one level, Johnson requested Home Republicans at a lunchtime assembly for a present of arms as they tried to decide on the trail ahead.
It wasn’t simply the shutdown, however the speaker’s job on the road. The speaker’s election is the primary vote of the brand new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, and a few Trump allies have floated Musk for speaker.
Johnson stated he spoke to Musk forward of the vote Friday they usually talked in regards to the “extraordinary challenges of this job.”
Related Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Invoice Barrow contributed to this report.
Initially Printed: December 20, 2024 at 10:48 AM EST
