The Continuing Resolution, which includes $30 billion for farmer assistance and $100 billion for disaster relief, was pushed by Elon Musk to be passed by Republicans.
In order to prevent a rapidly approaching government shutdown, US President-elect Donald Trump has urged Republican lawmakers to block a cross-party agreement. The White House has accused him of “playing politics.”
In order to avoid having to send public employees home without pay for Christmas, party leaders in Congress had reached an agreement on a “continuing resolution” (CR) to keep the lights on until mid-March, as they faced a Friday night deadline to finance government agencies.
However, many Republicans criticized the agreement on Wednesday, including tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, whom Trump has accused of cutting government spending during his second term.
Because of Trump’s enormous influence over Republicans, the plan is nearly guaranteed to fail.
In a joint statement with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, Trump suggested that the text’s concessions to Democrats were “a betrayal of our country” and urged Republicans to “GET SMART and TOUGH.”
As Republicans seize complete control of Congress in January, Trump and Vance declared that they would oppose any proposal that did not include an extension to the federal borrowing ceiling, which the US is expected to reach.
In order to enable the government to fulfill its spending obligations, Congress has increased the ceiling more than 100 times, and the current federal debt stands at $36.2 trillion. Lawmakers were caught off guard by the demand for the next extension, which was not discussed during the shutdown negotiations.
The plan includes the first pay increase for members since 2009, $30 billion in aid for farmers, limitations on investment in China, and over $100 billion in disaster relief that the White House requested.
However, the package’s additions caused a revolt among Republicans, forcing the leadership to rely on Democratic votes, a strategy that led to the removal of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy by his own party.
“Unrest throughout the nation”
The White House warned that if the bill fails, chaos could spread throughout the nation.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement saying, “Republicans must stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement, or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country.”
“President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government, and they are threatening to do just that.”
Since neither chamber has been able to reach a consensus on the various departmental budgets for the entire fiscal year 2025, which began on October 1, a CR is necessary.
Unless an agreement is reached, government agencies and services, including border control and national parks, would start closing on Saturday.
If Trump’s intervention is successful, dozens of Republicans in the House, where they hold a razor-thin majority and can lose only three members in partisan votes, are expected to oppose the package.
Rank-and-file Temporary funding agreements are usually opposed by Republicans because they do not include savings to spending and are always loaded with “pork”—extra spending that is crammed in without much discussion.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the economy declined by roughly $3 billion during a five-week closure in 2018 and 2019.
