With Congress hurtling toward a shutdown at the end of Friday, Republicans appear no closer to finding a way forward to keep the lights on and appease President-elect Trump.
On Thursday night, a group of Democrats and Republicans rejected a bill that would have combined a three-month extension of government funding, $110 billion in disaster and farm aid and other measures with a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling. The latest stumble has caused an uproar in the House of Commons. The latter was a last-minute request by President Trump.
This Plan B was cobbled together after Republican lawmakers, Trump and Elon Musk reneged on an initial deal that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) negotiated with Democrats. One Republican lawmaker criticized the bill for including additional policies such as the Health Insurance Policy Agreement and Health Policy Agreement. Raising the cost of living for members of Congress – This ballooned the bill to more than 1,500 pages.
Mr Johnson's first two proposals have come under fire, leaving Republicans wondering where to turn.
“There's no plan,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R.C.) said after the Plan B vote failed, adding, “Mr. Trump wants to shut things down.”
Mr Johnson told reporters on Thursday night, shortly after the failed vote, that Republicans would “regroup” and “come up with a different solution”, adding: “I want you to pay attention.”
But Republicans, who want to stay on the president-elect's good side, and Johnson, who wants to keep the gavel in his hands next year, are struggling to unite behind the plan.
Many Republicans oppose President Trump's last-minute call to raise the debt ceiling, and on Thursday, 38 Republicans joined Democrats to block the Plan B bill. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said Republicans currently have no plans to move the bill through the longer regular rules process, which would require nearly unified Republican support for the bill to pass. He said no.
Beyond the fight in the House, any bill would have to pass not only the Republican-controlled House but also the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, which have rejected last-minute Republican changes. be.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York remained steadfast after the vote, indicating he had no intention of negotiating further after Johnson broke the original agreement.
“It's good that the bill died in the House,” Schumer told reporters. “And now it's time to get back to bipartisan agreement.”
As the latest stopgap measures hit a snag, senators voting on unrelated bills across Capitol Hill are worried about the future of negotiations as the clock ticks toward a government shutdown and possibly a pre-Christmas weekend session. I wasn't sure what direction I was going to take.
“It’s like we’re back to square one,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R.S.D.) told The Hill as he left the Capitol. “Let's see. We'll figure out in the House what they want to do next, and they'll digest this last effort and see what Plan B is.”
“We have to be able to find a way forward,” the incoming majority leader continued. “With just over 24 hours until the shutdown, we need to get this resolved quickly, but we will get it done.”
With little direction, members came up with ideas that had the potential to stick. Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) predicted that a three-week “clean” continuing resolution without raising the debt ceiling could be the next course of action. However, he admitted that he is “a worker, not a manager.”
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Senate Republican on spending, told reporters she supports a multi-week continuing resolution to help lawmakers get through the holiday season, but as the hourglass ticks down. , admitted that he doesn't know where negotiators will go next. Outside.
“I don't know what the plan is right now,” he said, adding that the inclusion of a debt ceiling increase “seems to have infuriated Democrats.”
“My number one goal is to prevent a government shutdown,” she added.
The reaction in the House was similar, with Republicans tossing around various ideas with no clear path forward.
For example, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told reporters after Thursday's failed vote that he wanted Johnson to include a clean continuation resolution, disaster relief, farm bill extension, and debt limit on the emergency package. He said he proposed splitting the bill into two separate bills. Suspend, pass them under one procedural rule, then vote on each separately.
Ms Massey said she had pitched the idea to Mr Johnson but was “not completely rejected”.
It is also unclear whether President Trump will support it. Massey said Trump's team had originally called for a five-year extension of the debt ceiling, so the debt ceiling would not be raised again during the president's term.
Another idea floated to Johnson, one source said, was to introduce spending cuts in the bill to offset unpaid disaster spending and farm aid spending, as a way to drum up support for the bill among hardline conservatives. It was to be included in the
Rep. Dusty Johnson (RS.D.), chairman of the Main Street Caucus and a self-described pragmatist, said he had “suggested” a number of ideas to Mr. Johnson, but declined to elaborate. .
Another House Republican predicted to The Hill that Republicans would next move on a “clean” continuing resolution. Meanwhile, another Republican said the “rumor” in Republican circles is that the Senate will try to “obstruct” the House by passing the original version negotiated by congressional leaders. .
Senate Republicans have balked at the idea, but have not ruled it out.
Collins, the Senate Republican's top spending leader, told reporters that the Senate-originated bill is not the “desired way forward,” but is potentially foreseeable amid ongoing problems.
“I don't know what the plan is right now,” he said, adding that the inclusion of a debt ceiling increase “seems to have infuriated Democrats.”
Collins also said he supports short-term measures to help lawmakers get through the holiday season.
“Yes,” she said of the possibility of a “clean” bill for three weeks. “My number one goal is to prevent a government shutdown.”
As the clock ticks down to 11:59 p.m. Friday, lawmakers are keenly aware that they have time to craft a proposal that will pass the House with bipartisan support and pass in the Senate. I am doing it.
With time running out, Republicans are urging their colleagues to get down to business.
“At some point, let's put on our big boy, big girl pants and understand that here we need to hit 218 points and over there we need to hit 60 points,” Dusty Johnson said. I did. “Ideas that don't move us in that direction are useless.”
