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WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders on Friday were scrambling to come up with a plan to avert a government shutdown hours ahead of a deadline that would force U.S. troops, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers and millions of other federal workers to work without pay during the holidays.
Just three days ago, bipartisan House and Senate leaders struck an agreement to keep the government’s lights on, but President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire confidant Elon Musk killed the deal, insisting at the 11th hour it needed to extend or abolish the debt limit to make way for Trump’s agenda next year.
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A backup plan — endorsed by Trump and Musk — then went down in flames on the House floor, tanked by Democrats as well as 38 Republicans who objected to the debt extension.
Embattled Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is fighting to keep his leadership job, is now moving forward with Plan C. It calls for breaking up the larger package into three separate parts — government funding until March 14, disaster aid and a farm bill extension — and having lawmakers vote on them individually on the floor, according to two Republican sources familiar with the plan.
A debt limit extension would not receive a vote, the sources said. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a Johnson critic, and other conservatives said they had floated the multi-prong approach directly to the speaker earlier this week.
Johnson and Trump have discussed the plan and, so far, the president-elect is choosing to remain silent on it, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
Trump’s preference is still to address the debt ceiling, the source said, adding, “Johnson should have listened when the President-elect told him this a month ago. And in every conversation since.”
But Trump may be willing to take a “win” on a funding deal that cuts a significant amount of what he saw as “pork,” the source continued, noting that the process gave Trump’s team insight into where votes are in both parties for dealing with the debt limit next year.
There is no guarantee at this point that critical parts of the plan can pass the House or the Senate, or get signed into law by President Joe Biden.
“The lines of communication have been reopened,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters as he left a meeting with House Democrats, without committing support.
On top of that, it could take days for the usually slow-moving Senate to debate and vote on any House funding package, meaning the federal government will very likely shut down into the weekend — if not over the Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s holidays.
But Johnson has a major problem: He cannot pass a bill without Democrats, who still control the Senate and the White House and are determined not to give in to Trump’s 11th-hour demands. If Johnson fails to deliver for Trump, it could jeopardize his prospects of being re-elected as speaker in two weeks, on Jan. 3, with a wafer-thin House majority.
“This is a defining moment for his career as speaker,” said Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., a Johnson critic. “What he does and how he handles this, how he handles our conference … will define who he is, if he is a serious leader, and if he’s going to survive this leadership vote.”
Jeffries said Friday that Trump was rushing to set aside the debt limit so Republicans can pass a tax cut for the wealthy next year.
“A painful government shutdown that will crash the economy and hurt working class Americans, because they would rather enact massive tax cuts for their billionaire donors than fund cancer research for children,” Jeffries said, referring to a provision in the original deal that GOP leaders stripped out.
Senate Democrats have called on Johnson to return to the bipartisan deal that Trump and Musk blew up.
“It’s time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago. It’s time for that. It’s time the House votes on our bipartisan CR [continuing resolution],” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday on the floor. “It’s the quickest, simplest and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people.”
In the midst of the battle, Democrats believe they have found a populist economic message to rally voters to their side, depicting Musk as an oligarch who is pulling Trump’s strings.
“I’m ready to stay here through Christmas because we’re not going to let Elon Musk run the government,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement. “Put simply, we should not let an unelected billionaire rip away research for pediatric cancer so he can get a tax cut.”
Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.
Sahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.
Ali Vitali is a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News, based in Washington. She is the author of “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet.”
Julie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.
Kyle Stewart is a field producer covering Congress for NBC News.
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