WASHINGTON − With the House GOP struggling to avoid a federal government shutdown, President Joe Biden and the Democrats are more than happy to sit back and watch the chaos play out, convinced Republicans own the ongoing chaos.
Just weeks away from Biden’s exit from Washington, the White House is willing to cede the spotlight to the Donald Trump and Elon Musk show.
Funding the government is a problem for House Republicans and Trump to solve, a source familiar with the the administration’s thinking told USA TODAY, because House Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to a bipartisan funding deal, only to later scrap it at the direction of the president-elect.
The Republican-controlled House voted 235-174 Thursday night to defeat a new Trump-backed proposal to fund the government and suspend the debt ceiling for two years. Thirty-eight Republicans, mostly hardline conservatives, joined 197 Democrats in opposing the bill. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jefferies called the proposal “laughable” and “not serious.”
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White House officials have been in close contact with Jeffries about their response to Republican infighting over a spending bill to avert a shutdown before Friday’s midnight deadline. After the bill’s defeat, Democrats renewed their call for Republicans to pass the deal they agreed to earlier this week but spiked following pressure from Trump and Musk. It’s unclear how Johnson will proceed.
For now, neither the White House nor Democratic leaders on the Hill are even entertaining negotiations on the debt ceiling ‒ which Trump has suddenly said must be raised or eliminated altogether for Republicans to approve a continuing resolution to fund the government.
“The debt limit issue and discussion is premature at best,” Jeffries told reporters earlier in the day.
Biden has not spoken publicly about the standoff since Trump crashed the bipartisan deal. White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, released a statement Wednesday night calling for Republicans to “stop playing politics,” warning that a shutdown would hurt the country.
“A deal is a deal. Republicans should keep their word,” she said.
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Biden was in Wilmington, Delaware on Wednesday to pay respects for his first wife and baby daughter, 52 years after they died in a car crash. He returned to the White House Thursday evening but did not discuss the stalemate with reporters after deboarding Marine One.
With the lame-duck Biden still in power, Trump is betting that Republicans can blame the weakened, outgoing president if a shutdown occurs.
“If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF,” Trump said in a statement. “It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”
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But Biden and Democrats are highlighting the costs of a possible government shutdown during the Christmas holiday season. And they believe Republicans, who balked at a deal they previously agreed to, will suffer the public backlash ‒ particularly as Republicans next month take control of both chambers of Congress in addition to the White House.
“This is a moment that’s not about the incoming president, it’s not about millionaires and billionaires. It’s about the harm that House Republicans will do to the American people if the government shuts down,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries pointed to emergency aid for hurricane recovery efforts that would be held up if a stopgap bill isn’t passed and the impact on holiday travel if TSA agents aren’t paid under a shutdown, among other ramifications.
“This reckless, Republican-driven shutdown can be avoided if House Republicans simply do what’s right for the American people and stick with the bipartisan agreement that they themselves negotiated,” he added.
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That agreement, reached earlier this week between Johnson and House Democrats, would have funded the government through mid-March. But the deal cratered Wednesday amid opposition from Trump, who came out against the stopgap bill after Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and close Trump ally, spent the day trashing the 1,500-page bill on social media over its spending measures.
Republicans have balked at various add-ons in the 1,500-page bill, which includes pay increases for members of Congress, $100 billion in emergency relief and $21 billion for farmers who have experienced crop or livestock issues.
Meanwhile, Musk’s growing influence among Republicans ‒ even before Trump takes office ‒ has provided new ammunition for Democrats as they prepare for a Republican trifecta of power across the House, Senate and White House.
“It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said on X. “Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead.”
Jayapal added in a separate post Thursday that Trump and Musk don’t have to worry about paying rent or buying groceries as a government shutdown looms.
“But millions of American families do ‒ including federal workers & military members. They’re just billionaires who don’t care at all about poor and working people,” Jayapal said.
Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY. Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
