House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is scrambling to concoct a new stopgap plan with members of President-elect Donald Trump’s team with a looming government shutdown deadline on Friday.
The scramble comes after the fully-negotiated Continuing Resolution effectively died earlier this week when Trump came out against it.
Though not an omnibus bill, many Republicans as well as Trump advisors Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy called the 1,547-page CR a “Christmas Cramnibus,” condemning the plethora of wishlist items that would have added billions more dollars in spending than is necessary to keep the government running until March 14.
The nail in the CR coffin arrived when Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance issued a joint statement demanding that Johnson craft a new stopgap without the numerous concessions made to Democrats–even if that means raising the debt ceiling.
“[W]e should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give [Sen.] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want,” the statement said. “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.”
Facing heat from both sides, Johnson is now trying to fast-track a trimmed down CR that would include the $100 billion in disaster funding requested by Democrats and extension of the farm bill funding requested by Republicans, and possibly raise the debt ceiling as well, Politico reported on Thursday.
Even if Johnson manages to craft a stopgap that makes it through the Republican-controlled House, Democrats in the Senate are may be unwilling to vote for a bill that excludes all their hard-won wishlist items, though some, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have expressed interest in terminating the debt limit entirely.
