Congress is rushing towards a shutdown by the end of Friday. Republicans are no closer to finding an agreement that will keep the lights running and satisfy President-elect Trump.
The House was rocked by the latest setback on Thursday night, when Democrats, along with a group of Republicans, rejected a bill that combined a three-month extension of government funding, $110 billion of disaster and farm assistance, and other measures, with a suspension of the debt ceiling for two years — a demand made at the last minute by Trump.
Plan B was thrown together after Elon Musk and Trump torpedoed Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La) first deal. The Republicans were critical of the add-ons that Democrats included, such as a health insurance policy and a cost of living increase for Congress members.
After Johnson’s two first proposals went up in smoke, Republicans didn’t know where to go.
After the failed plan B vote, Rep. Ralph Norman said: “Trump wants to shut the thing down.”
Johnson said to reporters on Thursday night that Republicans will “regroup” in order to “come up with a new solution.” He added, “Stay tuned.”
Johnson is trying to hold on to the gavel next year and the Republicans are trying to unite behind a plan.
Many Republicans oppose Trump’s request for an increase in the debt limit at the last minute — 38 of them joined Democrats on Thursday to kill Plan B. House Majority leader Steve Scalise, R-La. The Republicans have said they do not plan to attempt to pass the bill through a more lengthy regular rule process that would require a near-unanimous GOP vote.
Beyond the struggles in the House, any bill would have to not only pass the GOP-controlled House but also get approval from the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, which are rejecting the last-minute GOP changes.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority leader (D-N.Y.), kept his position even after the vote. He indicated that he had no desire to negotiate further with Johnson since he broke their agreement.
Schumer told journalists that it was a good thing that the bill failed in the House. “Now it’s time to return to the bipartisan deal.”
As the latest stopgap was burning up, senators were uncertain where the negotiations would go next. The clock was ticking towards a shutdown as well as a possible pre-Christmas session.
John Thune, Senate Minority Leader (R-S.D. ), said as he left the Capitol: “I guess we’re back at square one.” As he left the Capitol, he said: “We’ll see.”
The incoming majority leader said, “We need to find a way forward. We’re less than 24 hours from a government shutdown. It’s going to have to be done quickly. But we’ll figure out what to do.”
Members were unable to give any direction and instead tossed out ideas that might stick. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) A “clean” three-week continuing resolution, without an increase in the debt ceiling, could be next. He acknowledged, however, that he was “labor and not management.”
Susan Collins, the top Senate GOP Appropriator from Maine, told reporters that she would support a continuing resolution for a period of several weeks to help members get through the holiday season. However, she acknowledged that she was unsure as to where the negotiators would go next, given that the hourglass was running out.
She said that she didn’t “know what the plan was now” and added that including a debt-ceiling increase “seems like it has aggravated the Democrats.”
She added, “My top priority is to avoid a government shutdown.”
On the House side of things, Republicans floated a variety of ideas without any clear exit.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., for example, said to reporters that after Thursday’s vote, he had proposed splitting the stopgap bill into four separate bills. These were a clean continuing resolution, disaster assistance, the extension of the Farm Bill, and the suspension of the debt limit. He suggested passing each under a single procedural rule, and then voting on them individually.
Massie told Johnson that he had pitched the idea to Johnson and “it was not rejected outright.”
Also, it’s unclear whether Trump would endorse that. Massie stated that Trump’s initial request for a five-year extension of the debt ceiling was to ensure it wouldn’t come up during his presidency.
One source told us that Johnson also suggested adding spending cuts to the bill to offset unpaid disaster aid and farm assistance spending. This was done to try to get conservative hardliners to support the bill.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), the chairman of the self-proclaimed pragmatic Main Street Caucus, said he “suggested a number” of ideas to Johnson, but would not divulge specifics.
A second Republican in the House predicted that Republicans will move next to a “cleaner” continuing resolution. A GOP lawmaker said that “rumors” are circulating in GOP circles about the Senate trying to pass the original proposal negotiated by the congressional leaders to “jam up” the lower chamber.
Senate Republicans balk at this idea, but they do not rule it out.
Collins, a top Senate GOP appropriator told reporters that while a bill coming from the Senate was not “the preferred way to proceed,” she could see it in the future.
She said that she didn’t “know what the plan was now” and added that the inclusion of an increase in the debt ceiling “seemed to have aggravated Democrats.”
Collins said she would also support a temporary measure to get legislators past the holiday season.
She said “yes” to the possibility of passing a “clean” three-week bill. “My number-one goal is to avoid a government shutdown.”
The clock is ticking down to Friday, 11:59 pm. Lawmakers are acutely aware that they have a limited time to create a plan that can garner bipartisan support and move through the House.
Republicans urge their colleagues to act now as time is running out.
Dusty Johnson: “At some stage, let’s put on our big boy or big girl pants and understand that we have to reach 218 here, and 60 there.” “Ideas which do not move us in this direction are not helpful.”
