Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Friday she will be in Washington “until Christmas” to counter President-elect Trump's demands to remove a negotiated provision from the government funding bill through 2025. He said he was prepared to stay.
Murray, the top Senate Democrat, accused billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, one of Trump's top advisers, of illegally dumping a 1,547-page bill released by congressional leaders earlier this week. did. A second plan backed by President Trump was defeated 174-235 on the House floor Thursday night.
“We can't let Elon Musk run our government, so we're ready to stay here until Christmas.”Simply put, unelected billionaires get tax cuts, the U.S. beats China. They shouldn't be forced to take away childhood cancer research because it could hurt their bottom line in order to destroy policies that help them,” Murray said.
“We have a bipartisan agreement, and we must stick to it,” she said, adding that the agreement Democrats negotiated with Speaker Mike Johnson “responsibly funds the government; “It will provide much-needed disaster relief to communities across the country and bring some great bipartisan policy reform.” ”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York urged Mr. Johnson to return to the larger continuing resolution he signed earlier this week before Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk forced the bill to a vote.
“It's a good thing that the bill failed in the House of Commons, and now we think it's time to get back to bipartisan agreement,” Johnson said after Prime Minister Johnson failed to pass Plan B stopgap. , said Thursday night.
Schumer warned Friday morning that Congress is on the brink of a shutdown, and cited an early agreement to continue resolutions as the best option to defuse the situation.
“If Republicans don't work with Democrats in a bipartisan manner soon, the government will shut down at midnight. It's time to return to the original agreement we made just days ago,” he said on the Senate floor.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle believe it is becoming more likely that Congress will convene during Christmas week to end the government shutdown.
“Right now, it seems very likely that we will be in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We may be in Washington, D.C. on Christmas Day,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). ) said on the podcast “The Verdict.''
“The path forward looks very uncertain at this point,” he said.
