Government shutdown at risk as Trump's demands put Speaker Johnson in a bind
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government shutdown at risk, House Speaker Mike Johnson is fighting to figure out how to meet President-elect Donald Trump's sudden demands — and keep his own job — while federal offices are being told to prepare to shutter operations ahead of Friday's midnight deadline.
Trump said early Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” in coming up with a new plan to also increase the debt limit, a stunning request just before the Christmas holidays that has put the beleaguered speaker in a bind.
And if not, the president-elect warned of trouble ahead for Johnson and Republicans in Congress.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
The tumultuous turn of events, coming days before Friday's midnight deadline to fund the government and as lawmakers were preparing to head home for the holidays, sparks a familiar reminder of what it's like in Trump-run Washington. Trump led Republicans into the longest government shutdown in history during the 2018 Christmas season, and interrupted the holidays in 2020 by tanking a bipartisan Covid-relief bill and forcing a do-over.
For Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of a Jan. 3 House vote to remain speaker, Trump's demands kept him working long into the night to broker a new deal. Vice President-elect JD Vance joined the late-night meetings at the Capitol, bringing his young son in pajamas.
Trump’s allies even floated the far-fetched idea of giving billionaire Elon Musk the speaker’s gavel, since the speaker is not required to be a member of the Congress.
“We had a productive meeting. We're going to continue to work through the night, in the morning to get, to get an agreement,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as he left the speaker's office late Wednesday.
But adding an increase in the debt ceiling to what had been a bipartisan package is a show-stopper for Republicans who routinely vote against more borrowing. The current debt limit expires on Jan. 1 2025 and threatens to bog down the start of the new administration with months of negotiations to raise it. Trump wants the problem off the table before he joins the White House.
As senior Republicans broke from a Thursday morning meeting in the House speaker’s office there was no resolution yet.
Rep. Tom Emmer, the third-ranking Republican in leadership, said the situation was “fluid.”
Federal funding is scheduled to expire at midnight Friday, a current temporary government funding bill running out as Congress was preparing a new one to keep things running for a few months.
The bipartisan compromise brokered between Johnson and the Democrats, whose support will be needed in the deeply split House and Senate to ensure passage, also tacked on much-anticipated disaster aid — $100.4 billion for states hard hit by Hurricanes Helen and Milton and other natural calamities.
But the 1,500-page bill outraged conservatives for its spending and extras. Musk, in his new foray into politics, led the charge. The wealthiest man in the world used his social media platform X to amplify the unrest, and GOP lawmakers were besieged with phone calls to their offices telling them to oppose the plan.
Trump announced his own displeasure late Wednesday, and told Johnson to start over — with the new demand on the debt limit, something that generally takes months to negotiate and that his own party generally opposes.
House Democrats emerged from a closed-door meeting Thursday angry about the collapse of bipartisan legislation, saying a deal is a deal and they were standing by the agreement they reached with Johnson and Republicans.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Trump’s new demands for a debt limit increase are “premature.”
“This reckless Republican driven shutdown can be avoided,” Jeffries said. Republicans should “simply do what is right for the American people and stick with the bipartisan agreement that they themselves negotiated.”
While Democrats have floated their own ideas in the past for lifting, or even doing away with the debt limit caps that have created some of the toughest debates in Congress, they appear to be in no bargaining mood to save Johnson from Trump — even before the president-elect is sworn into office.
“Here we are once again in chaos," said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who detailed the harm a government shutdown would cause Americans. “And what for? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, ‘We’re not doing this deal, and Donald Trump followed along.’”
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget had provided initial communication to agencies about lapse planning last week, according to an official at the agency.
Late Wednesday, the Republicans floated a new idea for a scaled-back bill that would simply keep the government running and provide the disaster assistance to hurricane ravaged regions.
But almost as soon as it was being mentioned, Trump posted on social media he didn't like that plan either.
Scalise said he understands Trump “wants to start the presidency on a sound footing and we want him to as well."
But, Scalise said, "obviously we’ve got to get through this first and we’re going to get it resolved, hopefully tomorrow.”
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Stephen Groves and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this story.
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