President-elect Donald Trump worked Friday morning to foist the blame for any potential government shutdown onto the current White House, insisting that the funding fight on Capitol Hill “is a Biden problem to solve.”
Lawmakers had seemed on track earlier this week to fund the government with time to spare, settling on a bipartisan stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, that would extend government spending into March and included a lot of add-ons to appease Democrats and others. But that plan quickly drew the ire of Trump ally Elon Musk, followed by the president-elect and Vice President-elect JD Vance, tanking that bill. Still, with government funding set to run out at midnight on Friday, Trump insisted that it is President Joe Biden who should be held responsible for any shutdown. “If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP,’” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social. “This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”
Of particular interest to Trump amid the ongoing spending negotiations is an increase, or outright removal, of the government’s debt limit. The president-elect has insisted that any funding package include such a provision, an especially tough pill to swallow for conservatives who have for years forced painful debt limit fights on Capitol Hill.
“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump wrote on Truth Social just after 1 a.m. Friday morning. “Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
Lawmakers have so far struck out on legislation that would meet Trump’s demands. A hastily brokered deal to fund the government and extend the debt limit collapsed on the House floor — with 38 Republican defectors — Thursday night. Speaker Mike Johnson worked through the night Thursday into Friday on a “Plan C” after ditching the original bipartisan deal and failing to pass the new bill on the House floor. Johnson and Trump are both weighing the pros and cons of a government shutdown.
Speaking to reporters, Johnson said the House will vote on a funding bill Friday morning.
“We’re expecting votes this morning. So y’all stay tuned. We’ve got a plan,” he said. Asked if they had reached a new agreement, he added: “We’ll see.”
Johnson is balancing Trump’s demands with the reality that any deal will require Democratic support in both the House and the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is asking to return to the original bipartisan deal that Trump and Musk killed.
“It’s a good thing the bill failed in the House, and now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement we came to,” Schumer said Thursday.
Like Trump, Vance is already working on shutdown messaging, telling reporters Thursday that Democrats are to blame for the looming shutdown. “They’ve asked for a shutdown and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get,” he told reporters.
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