[Congress is barreling toward a government shutdown after the GOP-led House failed to pass a funding plan backed by President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, leaving Hill Republicans scrambling to find a path forward. The Trump-endorsed plan was opposed by almost all Democrats, who are frustrated and angry after the president-elect tanked an earlier bipartisan deal, and a significant number of Republicans.
The GOP measure included a three-month extension of government funding, a two-year suspension of the debt limit into January 2027, as well as roughly $110 billion for disaster relief. The House voted 174 to 235, with 38 Republicans voting against the measure and 2 Democrats voting in favor.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told House Democrats in a closed-door meeting ahead of the vote that he was “not just a no, I’m a hell no,” on the new GOP proposal. Democrats have argued that the two-year suspension of the debt limit will help Trump pass his tax plan, and they aren’t willing to make it easier for him given their opposition to it.
Trump upended the government funding effort on Wednesday when he came out against the bipartisan plan that House Speaker Mike Johnson had backed. Trump is now demanding that any deal to avert a shutdown also address the looming debt limit, a complex issue that typically requires weeks to months of painstaking negotiations on Capitol Hill to resolve.
Vice President-elect JD Vance blamed Democrats after the vote failed, arguing they were trying to prevent Trump from “negotiating leverage” in the first year of his new term and claiming Democrats have “asked for a shutdown and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get.”
House Republicans brought the new proposal to the floor under a maneuver that required a two-thirds majority to pass. However, the plan was soundly defeated, and Republican leaders are now scrambling to find an alternative solution.
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