A spending bill presented by the republicans and backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, leaving Congress without a clear plan to avoid a fast-approaching government shutdown that could disrupt holiday travel.
By a vote of 174 to 235, the House rejected the spending package, which was hastily put together by Republican leaders after Trump and billionaire Elon Musk They would destroy a previous bipartisan agreement. Despite Trump’s support, 38 Republicans voted against the package along with a majority of Democrats.
Government funding will expire at midnight Friday. If lawmakers don’t extend that deadline, the U.S. government will begin a partial shutdown that would disrupt funding for everything from border security to national parks and cut paychecks for more than 2 million workers. federal.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration warned that travelers during the busy holiday season could face long lines at airports.
The bill largely resembled the previous version that Musk and Trump had criticized as a waste of money for Democrats. It would have extended government funding through March, when Trump will be in the White House and Republicans will control both houses of Congress, and would have provided $100 billion in disaster aid and suspended debt. Republicans removed other items that had been included in the original package, such as a pay raise for lawmakers and new rules for pharmacy benefit managers.
At Trump’s request, the new version would also have suspended limits on the national debt for two years, a move that would facilitate passage of the drastic tax cuts he has promised and pave the way for the federal government’s debt of 36 billions of dollars from the federal government, continued to increase.
Before the vote, Democrats and Republicans accused each other of the impending government shutdown.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters the package would avoid disruptions, tie up loose ends and make it easier for lawmakers to cut spending by hundreds of billions of dollars when Trump takes office next year.
“The government is too big, it does too many things, and it does few things well,” he said.
Democrats criticized the bill as a plug for tax cuts that would break the budget and greatly benefit wealthy backers like Musk, the world’s richest person, while saddling the country with trillions of dollars in additional debt. .
“How dare you lecture the United States on fiscal responsibility?” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said during the debate.
Some Republicans also opposed the proposal, believing it would open the way to more debt without reducing spending. “I am absolutely disgusted with the party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility,” said Republican Rep. Chip Roy.
Even if the bill had passed the House of Representatives, it would have had many difficulties in the Senate, currently controlled by Democrats. The White House said Democratic President Joe Biden did not support it.
Trump had urged lawmakers to vote for the package and take the debt ceiling off the table before he takes office on Jan. 20.
Previous fights over the debt ceiling have spooked financial markets, as a US government default would trigger credit crises around the world. The cap has been suspended under an agreement that technically expires Jan. 1, though lawmakers likely won’t have to address the issue before spring.
The last government shutdown took place in December 2018 and January 2019, during Trump’s first term in the White House.
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