House Republicans are going back to the drawing board after a deal negotiated Thursday failed decidedly just hours later.
The deal, thrown together during daylong negotiations between different ideological corners of the House Republican Conference and President-elect Donald Trump’s team, failed 174 to 236, with one voting present and 20 absences.
An astonishing 38 Republicans voted against the hastily assembled, Trump-endorsed deal, with nine not voting.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance stepped in Wednesday afternoon to drive the final stake in the heart of a previous deal negotiated by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democrats. Support for that deal was deteriorating rapidly ahead of Trump taking action to reframe the debate, insisting the deal should have included a debt limit increase to take the tricky issue off his administration’s plate next Congress.
The new deal removed over a thousand pages of pork and other provisions unrelated to keeping the government open.
As a result, only two Democrats supported it, with one voting present and eleven not voting.
Johnson brought the bill to the floor under suspension of the rules, which would have required two-thirds support to pass.
It did not get close.
Many Republicans who voted no — coming from all corners of the conference — may have felt free to do so because the bill was doomed to failure, or in protest of Johnson’s handling of the process.
Republicans must now decide on a path forward, not only for funding the government but who can lead them through this and future battles.
Republican leadership indicated they would not try to bring this bill through the Rules Committee, which could allow it to come to the floor only needing a simple majority. But the bill did not come close to receiving enough Republican support to achieve that lower threshold.
Leadership advised members no more votes would occur Thursday.
Negotiations will continue, but after Trump’s team had to step in to salvage the situation just to get a bill to the floor, who will lead them is another question.
It is rare for so many Republicans to buck a bill backed by Trump. Multiple sources tell Breitbart News that many of the 38 nays are a protest vote on Johnson’s continued leadership of the conference.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) announced earlier he would oppose Johnson in the January 3, 2025, House-wide vote for Speaker. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) said Thursday evening if the vote were to occur today, he too would oppose Johnson.
Those two public nay votes would be enough to sink Johnson, but there will likely be more opposition.
Johnson’s inability to shepherd through Trump’s bill might also cause Trump to express a loss of confidence in his Speakership. That would be a kill shot to Johnson’s chances at retaining his gavel.
The deadline to pass a spending bill is Friday at midnight.
Republicans must act fast if they want to get a funding bill through — and if they want to get on the same page before Trump takes office.
They face some difficult questions on how best to move forward.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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