The US House of Representatives passed a funding proposal Friday evening just hours before the US government was due to shut down, with a bill that dropped Donald Trump’s demand for a debt limit increase.
The bill, which passed 366-34, approves government funding for three months and will be sent to the Senate, where it is expected to pass. The vote came after the president-elect and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, scuttled a prior bipartisan deal at the last minute, sparking conflicts within the Republican party. A Trump-backed package hastily assembled by Republicans on Thursday included a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling, which would have helped the incoming president enact his agenda, but was opposed by members of his own party.
The bill now on its way to the Senate temporarily funds federal operations and disaster aid, but excludes Trump’s debt-ceiling proposal.
On Friday, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, launched a blistering attack on Republicans for their handling of the budget crisis. “Republicans blew up this deal – they did – and they need to fix this, period,” she told reporters. “[Republicans need] to stop playing politics with a government shutdown, and … they’re doing the bidding of their billionaire friends, that’s what we’re seeing, at the expense of hardworking Americans.”
While Jean-Pierre didn’t name specific individuals, her comments appear to be referencing Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who had publicly opposed an earlier bipartisan spending deal that was ultimately abandoned at Trump’s urging.
“This is a mess that they created, and they need to fix this,” Jean-Pierre said.
Trump earlier on Friday repeated his demand for the suspension – or even elimination – of the federal borrowing limit and insisted any shutdown should happen under Joe Biden’s watch rather than his own upcoming administration.
The rejection of the spending bill on Thursday night showed that Trump’s grip on the Republican party is not quite as iron-clad as usually thought. The president-elect had furiously urged the package to be passed, including threatening to primary any Republicans who opposed it. But a faction of Republican lawmakers on the right – outraged by lifting government borrowing limits – rebelled.
Critics described the breakdown as an early glimpse of the chaos to come when Trump returns to the White House on 20 January. Musk’s intervention via a volley of tweets on his social media platform X was mocked by Democrats as the work of “President Musk”.
Friday was lawmakers’ final day to approve a new federal budget before a government shutdown would begin at midnight.
Kamala Harris cancelled a planned trip to Los Angeles, with Washington on the verge of a shutdown.
Harris had been scheduled to travel to her home state late on Thursday, but instead will remain in the capital, the White House said, after Republicans backed away from a bipartisan compromise to fund the government.
Among the 38 Republicans who voted against the Trump-backed debt ceiling package on Thursday were several members of the conservative, pro-Trump Freedom caucus. The group included prominent conservatives like Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Chip Roy and Scott Perry, who have historically been strong Trump allies but are drawing a line at lifting government borrowing limits.
Kat Cammack, a Republican congresswoman who voted against the bill, told reporters that “this was not an easy vote for constitutional conservatives”. She added: “We’re going to work through the night and figure out a plan.”
Meanwhile, vice president elect JD Vance told reporters on Capitol Hill that Democrats voted against the legislation on Thursday to avoid a government shutdown “because they didn’t want to give the president negotiating leverage during the first year of his new term.”.
The bill would have suspended the nation’s debt ceiling for two years, helping Trump avoid a major negotiation with Democrats early next year.
The incoming vice-president did not mention the 38 Republicans who voted against the bill, denying Republican Speaker Mike Johnson a victory as he has tried to appease Trump’s last-minute demands on the debt limit. Trump endorsed the bill shortly before the vote.
“They’ve asked for a shutdown,” Vance said of Democrats. “That’s exactly what they’re going to get.”
The Associated Press contributed to reporting
