Legislation to avert a partial government shutdown, backed by President-elect Donald Trump, failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday evening.
Congress is slowly inching closer to the possibility of a partial shutdown, with the deadline looming at the end of Friday.
It follows two days of chaos in Congress as legislators fought over a path forward on government spending — a battle joined by Trump and his allies Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk.
In the meantime, the national debt has soared to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
The legislation was negotiated hastily Thursday after Republican hardliners led by Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk rebelled against an initially bipartisan deal that would have lengthened the deadline for government funding until March 14 and included numerous unrelated policy riders.
The new deal includes several crucial policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessors.
Like the original bill, the new iteration extended the deadline for government funding through March 14 while additionally suspending the debt limit — something Trump had pushed for.
The legislation proposed suspending the debt limit for two years until January 2027 — within Trump’s term — delaying the fight until after the 2026 congressional midterm elections.
The new proposal additionally included around $110 billion in disaster relief aid for Americans affected by storms Helene and Milton, along with a measure to cover the cost of rebuilding Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was hit earlier this year by a barge.
The first pay raise for congressional legislators since 2009 and a measure to revitalize RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., were excluded from the measure in the second round.
The new bill’s text was also substantially shorter — going from 1,547 pages to only 116.
“All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!” wrote Trump on Truth Social.
However, the bill hit opposition prior to the text of the legislation even being released.
Democrats, angry at Johnson for reneging on their earlier bipartisan deal, chanted “Hell no” in their closed-door conference meeting Thursday evening to debate the bill.
Almost all Democrats in the House who left the meeting indicated they would be voting against it.
Meanwhile, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus additionally said they would vote against the legislation.
“Old bill: $110 BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $0 increase in the national credit card. New bill: $110 BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $4 TRILLION+ debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. Time to read the bill: 1.5 hours. I will vote no,” wrote GOP Representative Chip Roy of Texas on X.
