President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday upended efforts to avert a partial government shutdown this weekend, blasting a bipartisan deal negotiated by House Speaker Mike Johnson and calling for a complicated new negotiation.
In a joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance, Trump criticized the spending bill and called for the debt limit, which is currently suspended but set to take effect again in January, to be raised right away.
The legislation — a mammoth, 1,547-page government funding package that was unveiled Tuesday evening ahead of a Friday night shutdown deadline — immediately sparked a Republican uproar, and the anger from GOP lawmakers and outside allies quickly threw into doubt the path forward for the legislation.
Amid that uncertainty, Trump’s public opposition is likely to derail Johnson’s deal, again highlighting the chaotic governance of House Republicans in the 118th Congress and the ongoing inability of conservatives to pass a government funding bill.
Trump’s demands: “The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed,” the statement said. “Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”
Trump and Vance noted that the funding package’s congressional pay increase would come “while many Americans are struggling this Christmas.” They also said that the bipartisan deal would make it easier to hide the records of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attacks on the Capitol.
Trump and Vance called for a short-term funding bill that also increases the debt ceiling but does not include what they described as giveaways to Democrats. “If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”
The negotiated bill, known as a continuing resolution, would fund the government through March 14, averting a shutdown of federal agencies. In addition, it includes about $100 billion in disaster aid, $10 billion in financial assistance for farmers, a one-year extension of the farm bill, reforms for pharmacy benefit managers and a measure extending telehealth for seniors. The bill would also have the federal government cover the cost of replacing the Francis Scott Key bridge in Maryland and would pave the way for the NFL’s Washington Commanders to return to Washington, D.C. Oh, and the package would provide the first pay raise for Congress in 15 years — a surprise to many lawmakers. (See more details about the package here.)
Musk flexes his muscle: Trump’s statement came after conservatives eager to scale back the size of government were incensed by that package and described it as just the sort of monstrous year-end spending spree they sought to avoid — and the kind of bill that Johnson had pledged that he would no longer pursue. The angry lawmakers were joined by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the newly appointed heads of President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk derided the bill in a series of social media posts. “This bill should not pass,” he wrote on X, later adding that Congress should not pass any bills until after Trump is inaugurated on January 20 and calling for the ouster of lawmakers who back the bipartisan deal. “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk wrote.
Johnson had tried to defend his deal in a morning appearance on Fox News during which he explained that his razor-thin majority means he needs Democratic votes to pass the bill. Johnson had to negotiate with Democrats and agree to some of their demands because he insisted on including aid for farmers, a priority for many of his members. He argued that Republicans should accept this bill to “clear the decks” for the incoming Trump administration. “That’s when the big changes start, and we can’t wait to get there,” he said.
Those arguments fell flat, and with the deal clearly imperiled, House Republican leaders reportedly considered a clean stopgap spending bill, but Democrats signaled that they aren’t interested in bailing out Republicans who backed out of a bipartisan deal. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries insisted that Republicans would own a potential shutdown and its consequences.
“House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made,” Jeffries said. “House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country. House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse. An agreement is an agreement. It was bipartisan and there was nothing more to say.”
The bottom line: Trump has completely scrambled congressional plans to avoid a shutdown of federal agencies Friday night — and he’s placed Johnson under a cloud of uncertainty as he faces a January 3 vote to retain his speaker’s gavel. “Trump privately trashed Johnson to senators, saying the speaker ‘mishandled’ the situation,” Punchbowl News reports, citing unnamed GOP sources. This is how Trump’s Washington operates.
