Elon Musk on Thursday sought to blame House Democrats for the failed spending bill, posting on X that the “plan b” legislation as a “super fair” and “simple bill” that earned the votes of just two Democrats in the chamber.
The new spending deal, which was wrangled to the floor for a vote by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Thursday, one day after Musk and President-elect Trump heavily opposed the first, bipartisan spending bill, failed to clear the House by a 174-235 vote.
Just two Democrats voted for the legislation, which Musk noted on Twitter.
“A super fair & simple bill was put to a vote and only 2 Democrats in Congress were in favor,” he said, adding that therefore, “responsibility for the shutdown rests squarely on the shoulders” of House minority leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Still, the number of Republicans who ultimately failed to fall in line Thursday evening could signal larger challenges ahead for Trump, who had sought to bend Johnson and others in the chamber’s GOP majority to his political will and pass through a new bill with a higher debt ceiling.
Thirty-eight Republicans also voted against the legislation, signaling more troubles potentially on the horizon.
The deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown is looming Friday after the House of Representatives voted down a bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday.
A spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night after losing the approval of 38 Republicans.
Those Republicans are: Rep. Aaron Bean, Fla.; Rep. Andy Biggs, Ariz.; Rep. Josh Brecheen, Okla.; Rep. Tim Burchett, Tenn.; Rep. Eric Burlison, Mo.; Rep. Kat Cammack, Fla.; Rep. Michael Cloud, Texas; Rep. Andrew Clyde, Va.; Rep. Eli Crane, Ariz.; Rep. John Curtis, Utah; Rep. Jeff Duncan, S.C.; Rep. Russ Fulcher, Idaho; Rep. Bob Good, Va.; Rep. Paul Gosar, Ariz.; Rep. Doug Lamborn, Colo.; Rep. Debbie Lesko, Ariz.; Rep. Nancy Mace, S.C.; Rep. Thomas Massie, Ky.; Rep. Rich McCormick, Ga.; Rep. Corey Mills, Fla.; Rep. Alex Mooney, W. Va.; Rep. Ralph Norman, S.C.; Rep. Scott Perry, Pa.; Rep. Chip Roy, Texas; Rep. David Schweikert, Ariz.; Rep. Keith Self, Texas; Rep. Victoria Spartz, Ind.; Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wis.; and Rep. Beth Van Duyne, Texas.
Two Democrats, Reps. Kathy Castor, Fla., and Marie Gleusenkamp Perez, Wash., voted yes to the proposal.
This is an excerpt from a story by Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips and Elizabeth Elkind.
{{#rendered}}Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., posted on her X account early Friday morning that there is "no plan to cut a deal with Dems" in order to pass the spending bill after two days of chaos on Capitol Hill.
At 12:43 a.m., Luna wrote that discussions are ongoing and voting is set to take place at around 10 a.m. Friday, adding that she will post more details in the morning but lawmakers are "getting this done."
"Sticking to Trump's plan + some (where cuts can come from)," she wrote, in part. "No plan to cut a deal with Dems."
Luna said earlier Thursday evening that she was optimistic a shutdown could be avoided.
Lawmakers have to come to a decision by 11:59 p.m. Friday in order for that to happen.
President-elect Trump early Friday called for Congress to either get rid of or extend the debt ceiling, possibly through 2029.
“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
The post comes hours after House lawmakers rejected a Trump-backed plan to fund operations and suspend the debt ceiling.
Earlier Thursday, Trump was touting “SUCCESS in Washington!” in coming up with the new plan that would keep government running for three more months, add more than $100 billion in disaster assistance and allow more borrowing through Jan. 30, 2027.
Lawmakers have until Friday at midnight to pass a new budget plan.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Thursday night that the failed bipartisan government spending bill, which was heavily opposed by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump, is "the reminder" that Musk "now runs the Republican Party."
During an appearance on CNN's "The Source with Kaitlan Collins," the Massachusetts Democrat said the timeline on how the bill collapsed shows to her "that Elon's number one."
"He's the one who started tweeting at 4:30 this morning about what a bad deal this was and how terrible it was," Warren said. "And Donald Trump trails along much, much later and says, yeah, terrible deal."
Collins then asked Warren if she thinks Musk is in charge instead of the president-elect, to which the senator said, "I think that's pretty clear."
"Look at what was ultimately proposed," she said. "It was not Donald Trump's proposal that went to the House. It was Elon Musk's proposal."
{{#rendered}}Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., on Thursday weighed in on the collapse of a bipartisan government bill, saying it’s “probably a good trailer for the 119th Congress.”
Womack’s comments come in response to the House resoundingly rejecting a new plan, backed by President-elect Trump, to fund operations and suspend the debt ceiling.
The collapse of the new proposal – which was whittled down to 116 pages from 1,500 pages – came a day ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline, putting the spotlight on House Speaker Mike Johnson, who will be fighting to keep his job.
Trump’s allies have floated the far-fetched idea of giving the president-elect’s billionaire ally Elon Musk the speaker’s gavel – since the speaker is not required to a member of Congress.
Appearing on CNN earlier Thursday, Womack called the situation on Capitol Hill “chaotic.” Asked if he would support Musk as House Speaker, Womack said, “I don’t think that’s a realistic idea.”
“First of all, Elon’s got to want to do it. And I think when he looks at what Mike Johnson has been through, what [former House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy has been through, what all Speakers have to go through, he’ll probably find that launching and recovering rockets and building EV’s, revitalizing social media platforms, is a heck of a lot easier and much more profitable than becoming Speaker of the House,” Womack said.
House Freedom Caucus members regrouped Thursday night to exchange ideas on how a continuing resolution (CR) might be able to pass the House that they could propose to Speaker Johnson.
However, members dug in on the debt limit issue as a possible shutdown looms Friday night.
"I think Trump wants to shut down. He said that. Johnson said that. Maybe you get it. No bill is better than a bad bill," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said.
Norman said after the HFC meeting, he could back a "basic CR, a farm bill with pay-fors," with separate votes that are merged together at the end.
"I'm not voting for a bad bill," Norman said.
Norman argued that the debt ceiling proposal is the fundamental problem.
"What's thrown everybody into, and y'all know this, is the debt ceiling. Throwing that in, in there at the last minute," Norman said, "that you can't do."
Norman added that what he could envision working is the proposal from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., for separate votes on CR, farm aid, disaster aid and debt limit.
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., liked the idea, but said the debt limit hike may be dead on arrival.
"It would give us all a chance to vote individually on those things. I don't think, I don't think debt ceiling regardless of what you do right now. I think it's what I think we should try to do it in, in the first reconciliation," he said. Burlison added that the big win of border policy could sweeten the pot on debt limit increase.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said a vote was possible on Friday on some kind of CR plan, but said multiple options were being discussed. She was optimistic a shutdown could be avoided.
However, Burlison said he doesn't expect anything in the morning.
Notably, Johnson already left the Capitol for the night so it is up in the air when the House will reconvene to vote on something else. As he departed, Johnson was mum on the next move, saying "stay tuned" and "we'll see."
Fox News' Chad Pergram, Liz Eklind and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
House Republicans failed to secure the majority votes needed Thursday on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown by week’s end.
This decision handed President-elect Trump a decisive loss in an early test of his ability to unite Republicans in the chamber.
The bill failed by a vote of 235-174, including 38 Republicans who voted down the legislation. The bill not only failed the method that allowed lawmakers to fast-track it with a two-thirds majority. It also failed to pass by normal standards, which require a threshold of 218 "yea" votes.
With $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2024, some conservatives are against a continuing resolution, which punted the funding deadline to March and keeps spending at 2024 levels.
Trump's deal would have included a two-year suspension of the debt limit, igniting further opposition among some Republicans.
This is an excerpt from a report by Fox News' Breanne Deppisch. Click here for the full story.
{{#rendered}}House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he has "very disappointed" after the spending vote failed the floor.
"Very disappointing to us, that all but two Democrats voted against aid to farmers and ranchers, against disaster relief, against all these bipartisan measures that had already been negotiated and decided upon," Johnson said.
Johnson said the only difference in this legislation versus the last is that they would push the debt ceiling to January 2027.
"I want you all to remember that it was just last spring that the same Democrats berated Republicans and said that it was irresponsible to hold to the debt limit the debt ceiling hostage," Johnson continued.
"It is, I think, really irresponsible for us to risk a shutdown over these issues on things that they have already agreed upon."
When asked by Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram late Thursday if he would put out another bill Friday to avert a government shutdown, Johnson responded, "stay tuned" and "we'll see" as he left the U.S. Capitol for the evening.
The new spending deal, which was wrangled to the floor for a vote by Johnson on Thursday, one day after Musk and President-elect Trump heavily opposed the first, bipartisan spending bill, failed to clear the House by a 174-235 vote.
Fox News' Meghan Tome, Chad Pergram, and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrated the failure of a new House Republican crafted stopgap spending bill on Thursday, telling reporters the initial short-term spending bill squashed by billionaire Elon Musk and President-elect Trump should be revived.
"It's a good thing the bill failed in the House," he said after exiting the Senate chamber. "And now it's time to go back to the bipartisan agreement we came to."
The first stopgap spending bill that was released this week was quickly shot down by Musk and others for spending too much and including Democrat priorities. Trump ultimately came out against it, putting the proverbial final nail in the coffin.
On Thursday afternoon, House Republicans came out with a new version, which was substantially shorter and included both disaster aid and a suspension of the debt ceiling for two years, as Trump had requested.
But the measure failed in the House, with some Republicans refusing to back it and Democrats uniting against it, many unhappy with Musk's apparent influence.
A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.
House GOP leaders must now huddle again to chart a way forward after the bill failed to net support from two-third of the chamber.
Congress is inching closer to the possibility of a partial shutdown, with the deadline coming at the end of Friday.
It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers fought amongst themselves about a path forward on government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
{{#rendered}}Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took to social media to bash President-elect Trump after House Republicans struck a deal on a backup plan for averting a government shutdown by the Friday deadline.
“If you’re just catching up: the Republican Party, taking orders from the world’s richest man, is on course to shut down the government over the holidays. Stopping paychecks for our troops and nutrition benefits for low-income families just in time for Christmas,” Clinton wrote in a post on X.
Clinton’s comments come as House Democrats claim that “Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown.”
Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that the deal would extend current government funding levels for three months and also suspend the debt limit for two years – something President-elect Trump has demanded.
Fox News' Liz Elkind and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
Top House Democrats took aim at the new spending deal proposed by House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday, following pressure by Elon Musk, describing it during a news conference as “not serious” and “laughable,” as chants of “hell no” were heard coming from Democrats’ closed-door caucus meeting.
“Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown,” they said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., also blamed Musk for tanking the spending deal at the eleventh hour.
“The House Democrats, the Senate Democrats, the Senate Republicans, the House Democrats, the House Republicans— everybody agreed,” he said of the deal.
“And then it was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government. And that's just an intolerable way of proceeding under Representative Musk. and so the Democrats are going to try to figure out how we can salvage the public good as the wreckage, that's just been pushed.”
Following the announcement that House Republicans struck a deal on a backup plan for averting a government shutdown, President-elect Donald Trump took to Truth Social to share his approval.
“SUCCESS in Washington! Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal for the American People,” Trump posted.“The newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the Government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes.”
Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that the deal would extend current government funding levels for three months and also suspend the debt limit for two years – something President-elect Trump has demanded.
“A VERY important piece, VITAL to the America First Agenda, was added as well - The date of the very unnecessary Debt Ceiling will be pushed out two years, to January 30, 2027,” Trump continued.
“Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish.All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!”
The bill also includes aid for farmers and roughly $110 billion in disaster relief funding for Americans impacted by storms Helene and Milton.
Fox News’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}House Republicans have struck a deal on a backup plan for averting a government shutdown by the Friday deadline.
Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that the deal would extend current government funding levels for three months and also suspend the debt limit for two years – something President-elect Trump has demanded.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
Fox News' Liz Elkind contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to blast Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who has been vocal about his concerns on Congress moving forward with the latest spending bill.
“The very unpopular 'Congressman' from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory - All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with,” Trump wrote.
“The Democrats are using them, and we can’t let that happen. Our Country is far better off closing up for a period of time than it is agreeing to the things that the Democrats want to force upon us. Biden is President, and it’s his obligation to properly lead. We’re there to do the right thing, and we can’t agree with what Biden and the Democrats are demanding,” he continued.
“Weak and ineffective people like Chip have to be dismissed as being utterly unknowledgeable as to the ways of politics, and as to Making America Great Again. Put 'America First,' and go for the Victory, even if it means shutting the Government down for a period of time. We had an overwhelming Victory just four weeks ago, and we’re not going to let the Democrats forget it so quickly!”
“Chip Roy is just another ambitious guy, with no talent. By the way, how’s Bob Good doing? I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!” Trump wrote in another post.
Trump said he, along with Congress have wanted to terminate the debt ceiling for years.
“For years Congress, and everyone else, wanted to terminate “the Debt Ceiling,” and this is the time to do so!”
Trump said.Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance are advocating to increase the debt ceiling on "Biden's watch," rather than having to deal with the debate in mid-2025 during their new administration
Fox News has learned that President-elect Donald Trump had been in “secret talks” with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., about the debt ceiling for weeks.
GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told Fox News that Trump had been pushing for the debt limit to be included in the government funding for weeks in secret negotiations with Schumer.
“President Trump, has been engaged in this for a long time. The idea that he just came out, the reason why he came out is because Schumer pulled away from a deal that we had been speaking to him about. So, the President has been engaged in this in for weeks. The debt limit isn't new, but we are trying to keep it away from you guys,” Mullin said off camera.
“President Trump is very clear he wants a debt limit increase in this. He's not wrong, because Schumer is going to try to hold him hostage. We had preliminarily worked on a deal that we thought was right, and Schumer walked away from it because he wants a negotiating deal. I don't think that's right for Schumer. I think if Schumer wants to hold American people hostage over a funding bill because he wants to leverage next year, that's not a good position for him to be in,” Mullin added.
Fox News is told that Trump never got on the phone with Schumer and that this was being negotiated on his behalf, but he was involved.
Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}Fox is told House Republicans are inching close to “something” on a CR. But details are unclear. It’s something House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and others have been processing with Vice President-elect JD Vance.
A GOP Congressional source says they “are not any closer” to passing anything, but talks continue.
A government shutdown looms, as President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance are essentially telling House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to renegotiate a massive stop-gap funding measure that the incoming administration decried as an affront to government efficiency.
Trump and Vance want a slimmed down spending bill that supports farmers and natural disaster victims, as well as controversially increases the national debt limit – a move they say is better done under President Biden’s watch rather having the debate in mid-2025 when the Treasury will likely again run out of borrowing authority.
Fox News Chad Pergram and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
House Democrats on Thursday fumed over the spending bill drama and what they characterized as the outsize influence of Elon Musk and others in President-elect Trump’s orbit, after a bipartisan plan brokered by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., collapsed just hours earlier.
Speaking to reporters outside a leadership meeting on Thursday, House Democrats expressed disappointment in Republicans for walking away from the negotiated argument, and many accused them of appearing to take cues from Musk.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., labeled the billionaire X owner "President Musk" while speaking to reporters Thursday.
"For the Republicans, for President Musk to come in at the last moment and blow up the deal is just intolerable," Nadler said. "You have to negotiate, and you have to be able to enforce what you're negotiating, and what was negotiated was a very good deal for the American people."
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said their caucus is "disappointed" in House Speaker Johnson, saying it appeared as though Musk is "president" and Trump "vice president."
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind
Some House Republicans are privately fuming after Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy got involved in congressional talks on government funding, leading the charge to tank a bipartisan deal.
Several GOP lawmakers granted anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive situation were either frustrated about the pair getting involved or believe they exacerbated long-standing weaknesses within the House Republican Conference.
"Musk and Vivek should not have jumped in at the 11th hour and should have handled it directly with the speaker. Folks on the same side shouldn’t act like these two," one House Republican said. "They’re more about the clicks and bright lights than getting the job done. I’ll have nothing to do with them after watching them publicly trash the speaker."
A second GOP lawmaker said, "If Elon and Vivek are freelancing and shooting off the hip without coordination with [President-elect Trump], they are getting dangerously close to undermining the actual 47th President of the United States."
A third lawmaker accused Ramaswamy of distorting facts.
"He didn't read the entire [continuing resolution] and the vast majority of what he was talking about is misinformation," they said.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was gearing up to hold a vote on a bipartisan, 1,547-page deal to extend current government funding levels through March 14 – known as a continuing resolution (CR).
The goal was to give congressional negotiators more time to cobble together an agreement on how to fund the government for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2025, while also kicking the fight into a term where Republicans control the House, Senate and White House.
{{#rendered}}Congressional leadership unveiled legislation Wednesday to punt the government funding deadline down the road, but that bill was pronounced dead only hours after it was revealed.
It led to the intervention of Trump-allied conservatives like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, with Musk threatening to support a primary challenge to any Republican member of Congress who voted for the bill.
It even prompted President-elect Trump to say he is "totally against" the legislation and insist any spending deal raise the debt ceiling before he gets into office, saving his administration the headache of doing so.
The continuing resolution, or CR, was meant to kick the government funding deadline down the road by continuing spending at 2024 levels until March and buy more time for Congress to hash out a longer-term budget plan for fiscal year 2025.
But it included 1,500 pages worth of policy and funding riders. With a national debt of $36 trillion and a deficit of $1.8 trillion deficit, conservatives are leery of CRs that don't cut government spending to begin with. But they've argued only a "clean" CR without any riders attached could earn their vote. But others – Democrats and some Republicans – wanted policy and funding riders attached to get something done beyond the status quo.
Follow the link to check out at all the provisions that prompted Musk and Ramaswamy to step in and insist Republicans kill the CR.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Thursday rejected President-elect Donald Trump's demand to address the national debt ceiling.
Asked at a press conference about Trump's call to abolish the cap lawmakers set for how much the U.S. government is allowed to borrow, Jeffries told reporters, "The debt limit issue and discussion is premature at best."
"This reckless Republican driven shutdown can be avoided if House Republicans will simply do what is right for the American people and stick with the bipartisan agreement that they themselves negotiated," Jeffries said.
He later added, "We are fighting for everyday Americans, not the millionaires and billionaires. Everyday Americans who will be hurt by a reckless Republican shutdown."
Democrats made the argument that Trump and Elon Musk were straying away from the needs of "everyday Americans," despite the president-elect and his new DOGE leader advocated for aide for farmers and those impacted by natural disasters in a slimmed down spending bill.
"Elon Musk, an unelected man, said we're not doing this deal and Donald Trump followed along," House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., said at the press conference. "Elon Musk and Donald Trump decided to inject this hardship into your life," she added later.
Jeffries, who contended that a partial shutdown would mean no pay for Border Patrol and TSA agents during a busy Christmas travel season, asserted that the "north star" for Democrats moving forward is "families, farmers and the future of working class Americans."
Fox is told House Republicans are inching close to “something” on a CR. But details are unclear. It’s something House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and others have been processing with Vice President-elect JD Vance.
No one would call this an “agreement.” And they have no idea how quickly they can socialize it with the conference.
It’s unclear if this could just be a patch to avoid a government shutdown – or if it could be something more substantive with the debt ceiling, and/or disaster aid.
Fox spoke to one moderate Republican who was upset that “outside forces” like Elon Musk torched the package and were “meddling in Congressional affairs.”
That is not exactly an endorsement of DOGE. But there is significant enmity now among some House Republicans for Musk.
{{#rendered}}House Democrats fumed Thursday over the spending bill drama and what they characterized as the outsize influence of Elon Musk and others in Trump’s orbit, after a bipartisan plan brokered by House Speaker Mike Johnson collapsed just hours earlier.
Speaking to reporters outside a leadership meeting Thursday, House Democrats expressed disappointment in Republicans for walking away from the negotiated argument, and many accused them of appearing to take clues from Elon Musk. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., labeled the billionaire X owner "President Musk" while speaking to reporters Thursday.
"For the Republicans, for President Musk to come in at the last moment and blow up the deal is just intolerable," Nadler said. "You have to negotiate, and you have to be able to enforce what you're negotiating, and what was negotiated was a very good deal for the American people."
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said their caucus is "disappointed" in Speaker Johnson, saying it appeared as though Musk is "president" and Trump "vice president."
This was echoed by Rep. Greg Casar, D-Tex., who said: "My main question is just if Elon Musk is kind of cosplaying co-president here, I don't know why Trump doesn't just hand him the Oval Office."
"Speaker Johnson should maybe just hand Elon Musk the gavel if they just want that billionaire to run the country," Casar told reporters outside a House Democrat leadership meeting.
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., was emotional as she expressed her frustration with the protracted negotiation and a changed debt ceiling agreement, saying that in her view, Republicans "need to do the right thing for once."
She noted that she has "thousands of neighbors" and others in her district who are waiting for disaster aid or for a Small Business Administration loan. ""Those are the loans that help people repair their homes. Those are the loans that help small businesses get back on their feet."
She noted that Republicans did not replenish those funds when they did the last spending bill, so in the meantime, these people "have been left out in the lurch."
"I just wanted to point out that this kind of chaos and dysfunction has real world impacts on hardworking people, and it's irresponsible and wrong," she said.
Musk's team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for a response to the comments on his role in the spending bill negotiations.
Fox News Digital's Breanne Deppisch, Aubrie Spady and Morgan Phillips also contributed to this report.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., told reporters that GOP leaders were looking at a variety of options to deal with the looming partial government shutdown deadline.
When asked if Republicans were still eyeing a March 14 date for a short-term government funding extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR), Cole said, “I have no reason to believe the timeline has changed.”
“I think lots of options are on the table, but…we need to sort of get through this and have a little breathing space to get organized,” Cole said. “I don't think it's fair to [President-elect Trump], frankly, to confront him — and I've said that consistently — with a shut down crisis immediately.”
House GOP leaders have said little while going in and out of Speaker Mike Johnson’s office on Thursday morning as they scramble to avert a partial shutdown at the end of Friday.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., repeatedly told reporters the situation was “fluid” when asked a variety of questions on progress. Johnson, R-La., ignored reporters’ questions altogether when he entered the Capitol Thursday morning.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., did not rule out the chance of a partial shutdown when he spoke to reporters about the government funding quagmire as he entered the Capitol Thursday morning.
"But, you know, we got to start here, get our work done in the House, and that's what we're focused on," Scalise told reporters.
One reporter asked, "Will there be a shutdown?"
"Well, we're focused on making sure that doesn't happen. But, you know, we're not the only ones that control that. We're gonna try to get it done today," Scalise responded.
Scalise sidestepped a question on if Republicans can pass a CR without help from Democrats, as House Democrats signal they're not interested in bailing out the GOP this time.
Asked about any updates on a new deal, Scalise said lawmakers saw "some real progress last night" but were still "working through some things."
On specifically if he's spoken to President-elect Trump, he said, "We've been talking to a number of people. Of course people in the incoming Trump administration and Democratic counterparts, our colleagues in the House. So there's a lot of moving parts. But, you know, the ultimate goal is to get a bill that addresses our immediate needs, but also sets President Trump up for success when he comes into office. And there's a lot that we're going to be doing in January, working with President Trump, and a lot of that work's already started."
"You know, when you think about budget reconciliation, you get the economy back on track, to secure the border," Scalise added. "So, you know, we're talking about all those things too. But we're working on, you know, some different approaches to where we were yesterday, trying to get this bill done."
Fox News' Tyler Olson asked, "Is it possible to pass something without the Democrat votes? Because it seems like Democrats are going to be against any changes to the CR."
"Well, you know, it's too early to talk about, you know, who's going to be part of what coalition," Scalise said. "I mean, we are looking at where the policy is going to go that gets us to get this bill passed in a way that the incoming Trump administration is able to be set up for success."
"And have you gotten any signals from Senate Democrats? You know, House Republicans are able to pass something that," Olson pressed. To that, Scalise said, "I think if you see a deal that comes together in the House that passes, it's likely going to pass the Senate too."
{{#rendered}}President-elect Trump endorsed getting rid of the debt ceiling in an interview with NBC News.
In a phone interview, Trump reportedly said abolishing the debt ceiling would be the “smartest thing it [Congress] could do. I would support that entirely."
“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” Trump added, saying that hitting the cap lawmakers set for how much the federal government can borrow could either be "a catastrophe, or meaningless."
Finding out what would happen if the debt ceiling is reached would be pointless, he argued.
“It doesn’t mean anything, except psychologically," Trump told NBC. "If there’s going to be a shutdown, we’re going to start it with a Democratic president."
On whether he has confidence in House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., amid negotiations over the spending bill that must be decided by 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday to stave off a partial shutdown, Trump reportedly said, "We’ll see. [The deal] they had yesterday was unacceptable."
“In many ways it was unacceptable. It's a Democrat trap," Trump said.
Trump told Republicans on Wednesday they should raise the national debt limit. The president-elect said he discussed his opposition to the short-term spending bill with Elon Musk before the tech billionaire posted on X slamming the bipartisan proposal.
“I told him that if he agrees with me, that he could put out a statement,” Trump told NBC. “He’s looking at things from a cost standpoint.” He said their stances are “very much on track.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., floated the idea of Elon Musk replacing Mike Johnson, R-La., as House Speaker next year as a potential partial government shutdown looms.
"The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress..." Paul wrote on X, which Musk owns. "Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk... think about it... nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds)."
Democratic political strategist Jimmy Williams balked at the idea.
"As I’m wont to say repeatedly: Senators should stick to Senating and House Members should stick to their Chamber," Williams wrote. "No House Member gives a damn what a Senator thinks about who should be Speaker."
Musk, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, already have been tasked with leading the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) come the new Trump administration.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox & Friends that President-elect Trump needs to consider coming to Washington, D.C., amid negotiations over the spending bill.
"Let's face it, he's the president now," Kennedy said of Trump, who doesn't take office until Jan. 20. "It's not President Biden."
Kennedy said Trump should sit down with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., "and come up with a new skinny CR."
"If the president wants to do something on the debt limit, we need to find out what it is and put it in the bill," Kennedy said. "And then the president's gonna have to help Mike sell it in the House."
He predicted that House Democrats wouldn't support the bill, and Johnson's problem is that on the Republican side, "he's got a bunch of free range chickens."
"I'm not criticizing them, but they wander off, and Mike can't catch all of them by himself," Kennedy said. "He's going to need the president's help."
{{#rendered}}EXCLUSIVE: President-elect Donald Trump told Fox News Digital that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will "easily remain speaker" for the next Congress if he "acts decisively and tough" and eliminates "all of the traps being set by Democrats" in the spending package.
Fox News Digital spoke exclusively with the president-elect Thursday morning, just hours after the bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown was killed.
"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.
Vice President-elect JD Vance met with Johnson Wednesday night. The two spoke about the potential continuing resolution for about an hour. Vance said the two had a "productive conversation," and said he believes they will "be able to solve some problems here" and will continue "working on it."
The chaos surrounding the effort to pass legislation to avert a government shutdown is putting the upcoming speaker vote in focus, as Johnson has struggled to keep the party fully united.
But the president-elect told Fox News Digital that Johnson will "easily" keep his role as speaker.
"If the speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker," Trump told Fox News Digital.
The speaker vote is set for Jan. 3, 2025.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., arrived at the U.S. Capitol just before 8 a.m. ET Thursday morning. He did not answer questions from reporters as he walked in.
Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Wednesday that House GOP critics of how Johnson is handling funding talks are already beginning to float names of possible challengers.
Two GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital that House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., were all mentioned in early talks about alternatives.
One of the two lawmakers said they had not heard from any of the three, adding, "That would be suicidal."
A person close to Donalds told Fox News Digital in response, "At this time, the Congressman has not made any statements regarding the future of House leadership."
A spokesperson for Emmer told Fox News Digital, "Whip Emmer supports Speaker Johnson and is focused on doing the job he was elected to do."
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
The Treasury Department assesses that the United States is more than $36.1 trillion in debt. As for the national deficit, which happens when federal government spending exceeds its revenues, the United States has been sitting at more than $624.2 billion since October.
A government shutdown looms, as President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance are essentially telling House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to renegotiate a massive stop-gap funding measure that the incoming administration decried as an affront to government efficiency. Trump and Vance want a slimmed down spending bill that supports farmers and natural disaster victims, as well as controversially increases the national debt limit – a move they say is better done under President Biden’s watch rather having the debate in mid-2025 when the Treasury will likely again run out of borrowing authority.
{{#rendered}}The revolt by conservatives and the sudden infusion into negotiations of President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance and Elon Musk has House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and others struggling to find a way out of their political cul-de-sac and avoiding a government shutdown at 12:00:01 a.m. ET Saturday.
Fox is told that Mr. Trump’s unexpected demand to tackle the debt ceiling in this package complicated matters exponentially. Many conservatives won’t vote for any debt ceiling increase. And Democrats are balking because Republicans reneged on the deal.
Democrats have bailed out majority Republicans on every major fiscal bill this Congress. They appear to be through helping Republicans.
Moreover, there may not be enough time to avoid a shutdown. Especially if a new bill is to be produced- and conservatives demand that it lay fallow for three days before voting.
That does not even address getting it through the Senate.
So, many Members with whom Fox spoke last night are now resigned to a VERY HIGH chance of a government shutdown - perhaps one which bleeds through Christmas. There simply isn’t a combination of votes which unlocks this puzzle yet.
We also haven’t even addressed disaster aid. Some conservatives are opposed to that for North Carolina and Florida without offsets. The fate of assistance after Hurricanes Helene and Milton is now in serious limbo.
The 1,547-page interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown is effectively dead.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has all but yanked the plan off the floor after President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance and Elon Musk torched the package to avoid a government shutdown this weekend and fund the government through March 14.
Had House Republicans had the votes to pass the bill – without leaning too heavily on Democrats – Republicans may have been able to pass the bill late Wednesday afternoon before the intervention of Mssrs. Trump and Vance. But there was just too much grassroots pressure, sparked by Musk on X and elsewhere.
The stopgap spending package proved unpopular due to its size, and various legislative ornaments festooned on the bill like a Christmas tree. Conservatives were expecting Johnson to handle the spending plan differently this year at the holidays. But it backfired. Badly.
It’s notable that Mr. Trump did not weigh in until the 11th hour. He also demanded a debt ceiling increase. That’s something which faced the President-elect in the first quarter of the year and threatened to derail any legislative agenda or potentially spook the markets.
Johnson’s decision to veer off course – despite touting the bill heartily on Fox Wednesday morning – underscores several things.
This is a sign of things to come once President-elect Trump is in office. And that could present problems for Johnson as he may be at the whim of decisions by the new President?
Why did Johnson pull the bill?
It was wildy unpopular with his rank and file. But it devolved further once Musk and the President-elect got infused themselves.
In many respects, Johnson’s decision to pull the bill was all about January 3. That’s the day of the Speaker’s vote. With 434 members to start the new Congress, Johnson needs 218 votes. Otherwise, he lacks a majority and cannot become Speaker. The House must vote repeatedly - as it did in January, 2023 - before electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., five days later in what was the longest Speaker’s race since the 1850s.
Johnson tried to salvage himself in the Speaker’s vote by adding emergency agriculture spending to the bill. But Johnson is now trying to salvage himself by coming up with a new bill.
The irony is that Johnson did not want to create drama before Christmas with a spending package. But drama is exactly what he got in what quickly became the worst Congressional holiday standoff since the fiscal cliff in 2012 or a government shutdown threat in 2014.
So here’s the $64,000 Question: What play does Johnson call next?
Does he do a clean CR to fund the government with nothing attached? Is it a bill that just re-ups current funding coupled with disaster aid? Do they attach a debt ceiling suspension as President-elect Trump has requested?
And then the biggest question of all: can ANYTHING pass at all? Especially without votes from the Democrats?
Johnson has a tranche of conservatives who won’t vote for any CR at all. Many of them would also not vote for a debt ceiling increase, either.
And even if there is a new bill, do conservatives insist on waiting three days to ponder that bill? That triggers a government shutdown right there.
The deadline is 11:59:59 p.m. ET Friday.
So this is going to require someone to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
President-elect Trump’s maneuver today is reminiscent of a similar move he made in December, 2019 which sparked the longest government shutdown in history.
Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., then-Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and others thought they had a deal to fund the government and avoid a Christmas-time shutdown.
The Senate voted for the bill. Senators even sat in the back of the chamber and sang Christmas carols during the vote.
Mr. Trump then balked at the last minute. House Republicans followed suit. The government shut down for more than a month
Coverage for this event has ended.