WASHINGTON – House Republicans agreed Thursday to a short-term federal funding deal that, if approved, would avert a government shutdown that was set to begin late Friday evening.
President-elect Donald Trump quickly approved the revised plan, which calls for a three-month extension of current government spending.
GOP leadership plans to hold an initial vote on the 116-page bill Thursday night to test whether it can pass the narrowly divided House with a two-thirds majority.
That seems unlikely, however, given Democrats' cool reception to the bill on Thursday afternoon.
Trump and his ally Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, doomed an earlier funding proposal on Wednesday by sharply criticizing its provisions, leaving Republicans scrambling for much of Thursday over a replacement plan.
“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious, it is ridiculous,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York told reporters shortly after the draft text was released. “Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us into a government shutdown,” he added.
The latest version of the continuing resolution would suspend the U.S. debt ceiling for two years. The cap is the maximum amount that the federal government can borrow to finance its expenditure.
This suspension was a surprising, last-minute addition to the proposal, as raising the debt ceiling typically requires months of negotiations.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, along with U.S. House Democratic Caucus Leader Katherine Clark and House Democratic Caucus Leader Pete Aguilar (D-CA), speak to members of the news media after President-elect Donald Trump urged lawmakers to reject a stopgap bill to keep the government funded, raising the likelihood of a partial shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, last Friday. December 19, 2024.
Leah Millis | Reuters
But Trump said Wednesday he doesn't want to take office in January and immediately face a vote in Congress on the debt limit. Trump this week called for the permanent abolition of the debt ceiling.
The new proposal also includes a $110 billion expansion of disaster and agricultural aid, which has been a key demand of House Democrats.
Although Democrats hold a minority of seats in the House of Representatives, Republicans only have a handful of seats in the majority, making it difficult to pass significant legislation without at least a modicum of bipartisan support.
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As of 4 p.m. ET, Democrats had not publicly supported the deal. Democrats were expected to hold a caucus meeting on the proposal.
Several hardliners in the House said they would vote against the financing plan because of the suspension of the debt ceiling.
— NBC News' Katherine Doyle contributed reporting.
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