Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown, approving a last-gasp federal funding bill to cap a week whose events could reverberate throughout 2025 and Donald Trump’s second presidency.
The House on Friday agreed to a bipartisan deal to punt a funding deadline to March 14, send $110.4 billion to struggling farmers and natural disaster victims, and renew the massive agriculture and anti-poverty law known as the farm bill. The Senate quickly followed suit to pass it early today, and President Joe Biden signed the bill into law late this morning.
But the days it took to reach that agreement severely damaged the standing of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and forced GOP leadership in the lower chamber into a handshake debt agreement that could restrain Trump’s legislative ambitions.
Johnson on Tuesday unveiled a bipartisan bill to put off a shutdown that also included provisions to lower prescription drug costs and curtail private-sector investment to China. But House Republicans – egged on by Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk – walked away from a deal on Wednesday.
That risked not only a government shutdown, but called into question Johnson’s standing within his party; he must run to retain his speakership on Jan. 3, when a new Congress is seated. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) earlier in the week declared he would not support Johnson to retain that office. Another lawmaker, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland), chair of the archconservative Freedom Caucus, said late Friday that he was “undecided” on the future of the House’s GOP leadership.
Johnson shrugged off questions about his future, though, asserting that with the vote, Republicans had teed up the Trump administration to weigh in on spending policy, where officials have promised slash-and-burn tactics.
“We are excited about this outcome tonight,” Johnson told reporters after the House vote. “We are grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing and having gotten this done now – it’s the last order of business for the year – we are set up for a big and important new start in January. We can’t wait to get to that point.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer hailed the legislation as a victory for bipartisanship after a chaotic week.
“Though this bill does not include everything Democrats fought for, there are major victories in this bill for American families – provide emergency aid for communities battered by natural disasters, no debt ceiling, and it will keep the government open with no draconian cuts,” he said in a statement.
Thursday night, Johnson had failed to ram through a bill that included the funding measure, disaster aid and farm supports, and a two-year suspension of the nation’s borrowing limit. Without that, Trump posted on social media, “We should never make a deal.”
By Friday, Johnson appeared to have split the debt ceiling question from the struggle to keep the government open. Instead of acting on it now, he proposed a handshake deal with fiscal hawks in his own party to try next year to slash mandatory spending – programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ health care and food stamps – by at least $2.5 trillion while raising the debt cap by $1.5 trillion, according to three people familiar with the details.
If Republicans stick to them next year, though, those figures could throw Trump and the GOP’s tax plans into question, and sharp cuts to those entitlement programs that serve millions of Americans may be politically untenable.
The bill approved Friday is basically the same as the one the House rejected Thursday, but without the debt limit suspension. Both parties broadly agree on its parameters, which also formed the basis of a bipartisan deal Johnson had struck earlier this week. To get around House procedural rules, it needed the support of two-thirds of members voting, which meant significant numbers of Democrats had to back it.
Lawmakers began the week expecting to cruise toward passage of the bipartisan deal. But some GOP members disliked it from the outset, and when Musk tore into it throughout the day Wednesday, Trump also signaled opposition, and Republicans jumped ship.
To placate his allies, Johnson cut out other policies – around health-care costs, medical research, limiting investments in Chinese technology and transferring RFK Stadium to Washington, D.C. – that he and Democrats had agreed to include. But some hard-line Republicans still refused to back that plan on Thursday.
“To take this bill yesterday and congratulate yourselves because it’s shorter in pages but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) admonished his party Thursday on the House floor. “That’s precisely what Republicans are doing. I’m absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go forward to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible.”
Democrats almost unanimously opposed it. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (New York) called the “Musk-Johnson” proposal “laughable,” and accused Republicans of being controlled by “one or two puppet masters.”
Trying a third time in as many days, Johnson consulted with Jeffries on Friday on whether a new compromise might succeed, and Musk endorsed the speaker’s new approach.
“The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances,” he wrote on X. “It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court.”
Democrats emerged from their own closed-door meeting ready to vote yes, albeit with some hesitation.
“By reducing the number of pages in this bill,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-New Jersey) said on the House floor, “they’re reduced the amount of help to the American people.”
(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Jacob Bogage, Marianna Sotomayor
The best part is that President Trump cut the 1547 pages to 116, blocked Congress’ pay raise, blocked funding for Dept of State censorship, got rid of the Jan 6 committee immunity protection, and secured funding for natural disaster victims and struggling farmers.