Just 24 hours after the deal negotiated by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) collapsed, President-elect Donald Trump stepped in to offer a possible path averting a government shutdown.
Republicans from across the caucus's ideological spectrum shuffled through the hallways of the Capitol, mostly between the speaker's office and the office of Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), trying to forge a deal throughout Thursday. I tried.
Details of Johnson's short-term continuing resolution, with tens of billions of dollars in additional costs, multiple extensions and reauthorizations, and hundreds of pages of provisions disparaged as handouts to Democrats and lobbyists, were revealed earlier in the week. As time went on, it was heavily criticized by Republicans. The House website published the text of the bill Tuesday night.
By Wednesday afternoon, Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance stepped in to kill it.
Mr. Vance spent much of Wednesday night in the chairman's office. Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance's team played a key role in Wednesday's negotiations, led by Mr. Vance's former top Senate colleague, James Braid.
An agreement was reached by late afternoon.
The new spending agreement includes a full three-month extension of current spending levels, a one-year extension of the Farm Bill, $110 billion in disaster relief, and a two-year extension through January 2027, as requested by President Trump. Includes suspension of debt ceiling.
Much of the pork in the bill was stripped away, much to the consternation of lobbyists in Washington.
playing cards approved He praised Johnson for signing the deal with Truth Social.
However, the future path of the agreement is unclear.
Republicans plan to try to pass the bill Thursday night based on a suspension rule that would require two-thirds support in the House.
Not all Republicans support the bill, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), whom President Trump attacked on Thursday's Truth Social. Objections from Roy and other conservatives center on the bill's increased spending with no offsets.
The House Freedom Caucus met Thursday night to discuss the deal.
Democrats are also unlikely to rush to support the deal. House Democrats shouted “absolute no” from inside their caucus, according to multiple reports.
But the bill is scheduled to be debated on the floor, an accomplishment that previous continuing resolutions were unable to achieve. It may take more negotiations to pass the bill from there, but Republicans are in a much better position than feared early Thursday.
Anything that passes the House must go to the Senate. The deadline is Friday at midnight.
Regardless of the vote, rank-and-file Republicans are left wondering why Mr. Johnson didn't bring them, and Mr. Trump, to the table sooner.
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News' Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
