Government shutdown looms as GOP works on spending 'Plan C'

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Dec 20, 2024

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A federal government shutdown was looming Friday as congressional Republicans sought to come up with a new stopgap spending plan after a proposal backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed badly.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that GOP leaders have agreed on a so-called Plan C after 38 Republicans voted against a Trump-endorsed proposal late Thursday.

“We will not have a government shutdown. We will meet our obligations,” Johnson, R-La., told reporters midway through the afternoon Friday, without giving details.

Trump sought to blame President Joe Biden even though it was he and Elon Musk who sunk Johnson’s original agreement with Democrats, which had been expected to pass fairly easily.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under Trump,” Trump wrote on his social media site, referring to the date when he returns to the White House.

There have been no substantive negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, meaning it’s anyone’s guess if the latest proposal can pass the House with a needed two-thirds majority, let alone being enacted into law as required before the midnight Eastern time deadline when parts of the government will start to shut down.

Johnson’s new plan reportedly involves a slimmed-down measure that would be similar to the one that failed Thursday, but without a provision demanded by Trump to suspend the debt ceiling. It would fund the government, provide more than $100 billion in hurricane disaster aid, and chip in about $20 billion in farm aid.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told fellow Democrats that he had reestablished “lines of communication” with Johnson on Friday in case the GOP leader has a change of heart and seeks a bipartisan solution.

Musk tweeted criticism of the new proposal late Friday afternoon, raising fears he could scuttle it.

Democratic support is needed because many GOP House lawmakers refuse to go along with their party’s own proposals and Democrats still control the Senate and White House.

Congress has until midnight Friday to fund the government or federal agencies will shut down, meaning hundreds of thousands of federal employees could be sent home — or stay on the job without pay — just ahead of the holidays.

Republicans abandoned a bipartisan plan Wednesday to prevent a shutdown after Trump and Musk told Johnson to essentially rip up the deal days before a deadline when federal funding runs out.

The president-elect also unexpectedly demanded that Congress repeal or suspend the debt ceiling, a controversial and divisive proposal that most conservative GOP lawmakers strongly oppose.

On Thursday, Republicans cobbled together a revamped government funding proposal that would keep the government running for three more months and suspend the debt ceiling for two years, until Jan. 30, 2027.

It included more than $100 billion for hurricane relief and billions more for farmers, both key GOP priorities, but stripped out provisions that Johnson had previously agreed to in a handshake deal with Democrats.

The bill failed badly in a House vote hours later, with more than three dozen Republicans almost all Democrats opposing it, leaving next steps uncertain.

If no bill is passed, any government operations deemed nonessential will cease and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will see their work disrupted.