Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said they opposed the funding bill just over 24 hours after the legislation was released, echoing complaints billionaire Elon Musk aired earlier in the day on Wednesday that the bill included excessive spending.
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The legislation was promptly abandoned and renegotiated on Thursday, including language that would push the debt limit fight off for another two years, suspending the ceiling until January 2027. That provision proved to be a nonstarter with conservative fiscal hawks and Democrats after it failed to pass in the House on Thursday night, leaving lawmakers without a plan with less than 24 hours before a government shutdown.
“If you were the Democrats, would you trade away the debt ceiling right now when you know in June the Democrats can use it to get something they want?” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) asked rhetorically.
“There’s at least 20-30 Republicans who are not on board with raising the debt ceiling or eliminating it. So I think it’s a nonstarter. It’s a little bit late in the game to be putting debt ceiling on this anyway,” Paul added Thursday afternoon.
Thirty-eight House Republicans ultimately voted against the renegotiated measure on the floor Thursday evening, tanking the Trump-backed legislation.
The funding drama at the final moment is reminiscent of Trump’s first term in office when he often undermined Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) predecessors Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy and failed to offer lawmakers the clear and consistent direction they often require when drafting large pieces of legislation.
“I think all of us were frankly stunned and there’s a lot of frustration among senators,” said an aide to a Senate Republican speaking on the condition of anonymity. “I just can’t understand why we want to start out with the same chaos we had during Trump’s first term when he tanked several perfectly good pieces of legislation at the last minute.”
“This is just embarrassing — Trump needs to understand he is not a ruler. He needs to work within the confines of his Republican members who all have different perspectives and come from all over the country,” the aide said.
In early 2018, Trump killed a bipartisan proposal to resolve the future of millions of young immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally, calling the bill “a total catastrophe.” Trump also threatened to veto a government funding bill in April 2018 at the last moment, unhappy with the legislation because it didn’t include enough funding for his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. At the time, Ryan and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rushed to the White House to reassure the president.
“The first four years Trump was in charge, it was dysfunctional. When Republicans are in charge, it’s just a nightmare to function,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Thursday.
The last prolonged government shutdown, from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019, lasted 35 days and was the longest in four decades after Trump said he wouldn’t pass a spending bill without border wall money at the last minute. He ultimately relented and reopened the shuttered federal agencies without providing any money for the wall.
In the next Congress, Republicans don’t have much room for error, specifically in the Republican-controlled House where they will have a 217-215 majority, one of the narrowest controlling margins in House history. The razor-thin numbers could raise the possibility of a repeat of the leadership disputes that paralyzed the House a year ago.
“It is a taste of things to come. The House is going to be ungovernable,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who most recently served 12 terms in the lower chamber.
“I just think that’s beneath them. That’s just not the way I would want to start,” said Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). “You know, they just had this strong victory, and they’re ready to run the table, and then they devolve into Rand Paul kind of like performance art.”
GOP senators behind closed doors are conveying similar messages and even seemed to express confusion with Trump’s demands.
“Trump’s last-minute request that the debt ceiling be eliminated throws a whole other issue into the debate,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the incoming Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman. “The one thing I do know is that we should not shut down the government.”
“That is always a mistake. It’s representing the ultimate failure to govern,” Collins added.
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Some Republicans are attempting to stay optimistic about the next term in which they will have a trifecta, with a majority in both chambers and Trump in the White House. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said this current spending fight is not reflective of what is to come.
“We are trying to avoid a fight. Now this is something I know … you aren’t used to — but Congress is trying to be proactive,” Mullin said. “We know this fight on the debt limit is coming. Let’s just walk into it and get it over with. I don’t want to plan for a week to fight; let’s just get it over with.”