House Republican leaders withdrew a proposed three-month government funding package after failing to gain sufficient support from their conference and facing strong opposition from President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. The move leaves Congress scrambling to reach an agreement before the government shuts down Friday night.
The proposed continuing resolution, unveiled just 24 hours earlier, faced immediate backlash from House and Senate Republicans. The bill included $110.4 billion in disaster relief and farmer assistance, alongside a clean extension of current spending levels until March 14, but lacked offsets for the additional spending. Deficit hawks and members of the Freedom Caucus criticized the lack of spending cuts and the rushed process. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) called the process “broken,” while Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) deemed the bill “wasteful spending.”
Tensions escalated after Trump and Vance publicly opposed the legislation, urging Republicans to reject what they called “sweetheart provisions” and to include a debt ceiling increase in any funding deal. Trump warned Republicans to avoid concessions that would benefit Democrats and threatened primary challenges for those who supported a deal without stringent spending cuts.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is now tasked with rallying his party to find a new path forward. However, Democratic support for any new deal is uncertain, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) stating that Republicans would bear sole responsibility for any shutdown.
The Biden administration has shown no signs of intervening, while prominent conservatives, including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have criticized the GOP’s handling of the situation. With the deadline looming, negotiations remain fraught as Republicans navigate internal divisions and external pressures.
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