Congressional Spending Bill Scrapped, Trump & Vance Issue Joint Statement

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Republicans scrapped House Speaker Mike Johnson’s spending bill as a government shutdown approaches.

The news follows President Trump and Elon Musk voicing their opposition against the bill.

“No bills should be passed Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office. None. Zero,” Musk said.

Musk cheered after Republicans scrapped the bill.

“Your elected representatives have heard you and now the terrible bill is dead. The voice of the people has triumphed!” he said.

Per CNN:

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise confirmed that the current government funding plan is officially scrapped after President-elect Donald Trump came out against it, but Republicans have still not come up with a plan B.

“Yes” Scalise said when asked if the plan that was released on Tuesday has been tossed out.

Scalise said a new agreement has not been reached and confirmed Republicans are still discussing how to tie debt limit increase to government funding, in response to Trump’s last-minute demands.

“Obviously, there’s still a lot of negotiations and conversations going on, but there’s no new agreement,” Scalise said.

Asked if the new deal had a debt limit increase, Scalise said “there is no new agreement right now, just obviously looking at a number of options.”

“We’ve been having some conversations about the debt limit, as relates to the CR. So, you know those are ongoing conversations,” he added.

“The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed. Meanwhile, Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney. The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee—which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas,” President Trump and Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance said in a joint statement.

“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want. Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” the statement continued.

“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief. THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!” it added.

A closer look:

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“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said.

From The Washington Post:

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday evening that “Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country.”

The speed with which the GOP deserted Johnson’s bill on Wednesday underscored how difficult the party’s task could be next year, when Republicans will have control of the Senate and White House, but an even smaller margin in the House. Johnson told Fox News earlier in the day that he had texted Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-chair of Trump’s nongovernmental “Department of Government Efficiency,” that any measure needed Democratic support to pass, and that Ramaswamy understood the challenge he faced.

Resolving the impasse by Friday may be even harder. Trump has asked to keep certain measures Johnson supports, such as aid for farmers and natural disaster survivors, but also demanded the House ditch items that Democrats negotiated. He has also requested that Republicans extend the suspension of the debt ceiling, a limit on how much the U.S. government can borrow, which is set to expire early in his new term next year.

On Tuesday evening, Johnson had introduced legislation to extend federal funding until March 14, send $110.4 billion to natural disaster survivors and codify a host of unrelated policy changes. Late in negotiations Johnson added an additional $10 billion of aid for farmers — which opened the door to a slew of unrelated demands by Democrats to ensure the bill could pass the House and Democratic-led Senate. Those included transferring control of the District’s RFK Stadium to Washington, D.C., a pay raise for members of Congress, new regulations for health plan administrators and federal funds to rebuild Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key bridge.



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