House rejects federal spending bill that included Key Bridge money

The House rejected the president-elect that of Donald Trump new plan Thursday to fund federal operations and suspend the debt ceiling a day before the government shutdown, with Democrats refusing to respond to his sudden demands and the quick fix concocted by Republican leaders.

In a hastily arranged evening vote punctuated by outbursts of anger over the self-created crisis, lawmakers failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage — but President Donald Trump House Speaker Mike Johnson seemed determined to try again before Friday’s midnight deadline.

“We’re going to do the right thing here,” Johnson said before the vote. But he didn’t even get a majority, with the bill being rejected by 174 votes to 235.

The rejected spending bill included a promise of full funding to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, and it would have replenished the program money that would fund it. Getting that money was a top priority for Maryland members of Congress as well as Gov. Wes Moore, who negotiated an expense bill earlier in the week which ended up collapsing. With the bill’s failure, funding for Key Bridge remains in limbo.

However, the bill removed a provision that would have transferred the land that is the site of the former RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia, paving the way for a new Washington Commanders stadium.

The result proved a huge setback for Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Muskwho raged against Johnson’s bipartisan compromise, which Republicans and Democrats had reached earlier to prevent a Christmas government shutdown.

The vote provides a preview of the turbulence to come when Trump returns to the White House with Republican control of the House and Senate. During his first term, Trump led Republicans to longest government shutdown in history during the 2018 Christmas season, and disrupted the holidays in 2020 by rejecting a bipartisan COVID relief bill and forcing an overhaul.

A few hours earlier, Trump had announced “SUCCESS in Washington!” » in proposing the new plan that would allow the government to operate for three more months, add $100.4 billion in disaster aid, including for hurricane-hit states, and allow more borrowing up to until January 30, 2027.

“Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have reached a very good agreement,” Trump said.

But the Republicans, who had spent 24 hours negotiating among themselves to arrive at this new plan, ran into a wall of resistance from the Democrats, who were in no hurry to appease Trump’s demands – or to his billionaire ally. Musk.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were sticking to the original deal with Johnson and called the new one “laughable.”

“This is not a serious proposal,” Jeffries said as he walked into the closed-door Democratic caucus meeting. Inside, Democrats chanted: “Hell, no!

All day, Johnson had struggled to find a way to meet Trump’s sudden demands – and keep your own job – while federal offices are asked to prepare to shut down their operations.

The new proposal shrinks the 1,500-page bill to 116 pages and removes a number of additions — including lawmakers’ first pay raise in more than a decade, which could have allowed for an increase of up to 3 .8%. This drew particular scorn as Musk turned his social media army against the bill.

Trump said Thursday morning that Johnson would “easily remain president” in the next Congress if he “acts decisively and decisively” in proposing a new plan to also raise the debt ceiling, a stunning request just before the Christmas holiday who put the beleaguered speaker in a dead end.

And if not, the president-elect warned against trouble ahead for Johnson and the Republicans in Congress.

“Anyone who supports a bill that doesn’t address the Democratic quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be prioritized and eliminated as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.

THE tumultuous turn of eventsComing as lawmakers prepared to return home for the holidays, prompts a familiar reminder of what life is like in Trump-led Washington.

For Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of the Jan. 3 House vote to remain president, Trump’s demands left him severely weakened, forced to abandon his word to Democrats and work through the night to negotiate the new approach.

Trump’s allies even floated the far-fetched idea of ​​giving billionaire Musk the president’s gavel, since he is not required to be a member of Congress. Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she was “open” to the idea.

Democrats were beside themselves, seeing this as a fitting coda after one of the most unproductive congressional sessions in modern times.

“Here we are in chaos once again,” said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who detailed the damage a government shutdown would do to Americans. “And for what? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, “We’re not making this deal, and Donald Trump followed.”

The debate in the House of Representatives heated up as lawmakers blamed each other for the mess.

At one point, Rep. Marc Molinaro, who was chairing the debate, hit the speaker’s gavel with such force that it broke.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Trump publicly attacked those who opposed him.

One diehard Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, drew Trump’s ire for refusing to follow the plan and telling his colleagues they had no self-respect by increasing the nation’s debt.

“It’s shameful!” ” thundered Roy, standing on the Democratic side of the aisle and pointing to his fellow Republicans.

But it abandons a long list of other bipartisan bills that had support as lawmakers from both parties tried to wrap up their work for the year. It extends government funds until March 14.

Adding a debt ceiling increase to what had been a bipartisan package is an obstacle for Republicans who consistently vote against more borrowing, and for Democrats who were unwilling to give in to the demands of Priceless Trump.

While Democrats have floated their own ideas in the past to lift or even eliminate debt limits that have given rise to some of the toughest debates in Congress — Sen. Elizabeth Warren has suggested it — they don’t appear to be in the mood to negotiate. saving Johnson from Trump – before the president-elect was even sworn in.

The current debt ceiling expires on January 1, 2025 and threatens to bog down the start of the new administration with months of negotiations to raise it. Trump wants the problem resolved before he joins the White House.

As senior Republicans walked out of a meeting Thursday morning in the House speaker’s office, no resolution was in sight — a preview of what will happen when Republicans control Congress and Trump is at the White House in the New Year.

Rep. Steve Womack, Arkansas Republican and the lead official, said the failure of a bipartisan funding deal this week would be “probably a good trailer right now for the 119th Congress.”

Federal funding is set to expire at midnight Friday, as a current temporary government funding bill expires.

The bipartisan compromise negotiated between Johnson and Democrats outraged conservatives for its spending and extras.

Musk, in his new foray into politics, has led the charge. The world’s richest man used his X social media platform to amplify the unrest, and Republican lawmakers were besieged with phone calls to their offices asking them to oppose the plan.

Trump asked Johnson to start again — with the new demand for the debt ceiling, something that usually takes months to negotiate and which his own party generally opposes.

The White House Office of Management and Budget provided initial communication to agencies last week on a possible closure plan, according to an agency official.

Baltimore Banner reporter Pamela Wood contributed to this article.