WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump announced “success” in coming up with a new plan to fund the government and suspend the debt ceiling a day before a government shutdown, urging Congress to swiftly pass it, with House votes set for Thursday evening.
Trump’s social media post landed as Republicans rushed to reopen the House chamber to begin debating the tentative accord after grueling closed-door talks. The new plan would keep government running for three more months, add $100.4 billion in disaster assistance including for hurricane-hit states, and allow more borrowing through Jan. 30, 2027, Republicans said.
“SUCCESS in Washington! Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal,” Trump posted.
Next steps were highly uncertain, and it appeared the new package would also be doomed to collapse. Democratic votes would be needed on any legislation, in the face of hardline Republican opposition, and they were in no hurry to appease demands from Trump — or his billionaire ally Elon Musk.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were sticking with the original deal with Johnson and called the new one “laughable.”
“It’s not a serious proposal,” Jeffries said as he walked to Democrats’ own closed-door caucus meeting. Inside, Democrats were chanting against the measure.
A government shutdown at risk, Johnson has been fighting to figure out how to meet Trump’s sudden demands — and keep his own job — while federal offices are being told to prepare to shutter operations ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline.
The new proposal whittles the 1,500-page bill to 116 pages and drops a number of add-ons — notably the first pay raise for lawmakers in more than a decade, which could have allowed as much as a 3.8% bump. That drew particular scorn as Musk turned his social media army against the bill.
Trump said early Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” in coming up with a new plan to also raise the debt limit, a stunning request just before the Christmas holidays that has put the beleaguered speaker in a bind.
And if not, the president-elect warned of trouble ahead for Johnson and Republicans in Congress.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
The tumultuous turn of events, coming as lawmakers were preparing to head home for the holidays.
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