WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that he would rather see House Republicans deny funding to the federal government than vote for a funding bill that does not include raising the debt ceiling.
President Trump: “Republican obstructionists must be removed” posted, He was referring to House Republicans who have refused to support President Trump’s desire to raise the debt ceiling. He singled out Texas Rep. Chip Roy, accusing him of “further sabotaging the Republican Party’s big wins as usual.”
“Our country would be far better off shutting down for a period of time than agreeing to what the Democrats are trying to impose on us,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social.
Time is running out to avoid a partial government shutdown starting late Friday night, House Republican leaders said Thursday after Mr. Trump and his allies approved a compromise deal that would fund the government through March.
Party leaders spent much of Thursday in and out of Speaker Mike Johnson’s office at the Capitol, where conversations focused on Trump seeking a deal to fund the federal government while keeping it functioning. The focus was on finding ways to meet the president’s last-minute demands. The government will also raise the debt ceiling.
But even if House Republicans are able to settle on funding language that appeases both President Trump and opposing factions in the Republican caucus, it will take Democrats to pass the bill before President Joe Biden can sign it into law. It must be approved by the majority Senate.
Meanwhile, outside of the party leaders’ meeting, House and Senate lawmakers are hopeful that Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, can find a way in time to avoid the potential furloughs of tens of thousands of federal workers across the country. I was becoming increasingly worried that it might not happen. Their paychecks could be delayed by less than a week until Christmas.
“Shutdowns don’t solve anything. They don’t save money. They just create unnecessary confusion,” New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler said on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Report.
“It takes bipartisan support to pass anything,” he said. “Supporting a continuing resolution would require Democrats at least in the Senate, but probably also in the House,” he said.
Tensions escalated Thursday after the widespread defeat of a massive bargaining funding bill that needed Democratic votes to pass the narrowly divided House on Wednesday.
President Trump’s formal opposition to the bill late Wednesday comes as Republican billionaire Elon Musk lashed out at the bill throughout the day, and the majority of the House Republican conference backing it became increasingly political. This was after it became impossible.
“Raising the debt ceiling is not great, but we would much rather do it on Biden’s watch,” President Trump said in a statement Wednesday, expressing his opposition to Johnson’s original proposal.
“If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, who in the world is going to think they’ll do so in June when we’re in office? Let’s start the discussion now. And let’s get Chuck Schumer and a streamlined plan that doesn’t burden the government. We need to pass a spending bill.”Democrats will do whatever they want,” Trump said.
The debt ceiling has become a heated debate in Washington every few years, a debate President Trump hopes to avoid at the start of his second term.
But Mr Johnson’s demands and Thursday’s impasse could be too much for him, who faces potential threats to his chairship, which is up for a vote early next year.
