With Congress heading toward a shutdown at the end of Friday, Republicans appear no closer to finding a path forward that keeps the lights on and appeases President-elect Trump.
The latest setback rocked the House of Representatives on Thursday evening as Democrats and a group of Republicans met rejected a bill that would provide a three-month extension of state funding$110 billion in disaster and agricultural aid and other measures with a two-year suspension of the debt limit – the latter was a last-minute demand from Trump.
That Plan B was cobbled together after Republican Reps. Trump and Elon Musk torpedoed the first deal that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had negotiated with Democrats, with influential Republicans criticizing the political perks included – like a deal on health care policy and cost of living increases for members of Congress – bringing the legislation to over 1,500 pages.
With Johnson’s first two proposals in flames, Republicans don’t know where to turn.
“There is no plan,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) after the vote on Plan B failed, adding: “Trump wants this thing dropped.”
Johnson told reporters Thursday night, shortly after the failed vote, that Republicans would “regroup” and “find another solution,” adding, “Stay tuned.”
But Republicans, desperate to stay on the recent president’s good side, and Johnson, who is trying to keep his grip on the gavel next year, are struggling to unite behind a plan.
Trump’s last-minute call for a debt limit augment is rejected by many Republicans – 38 of whom joined Democrats on Thursday to reject the Plan B bill. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Republicans do not currently plan to push the bill through a lengthy regular process that would require near-uniform Republican support for passage.
Aside from House battles, any bill would not only have to pass the GOP-controlled House but also win approval from the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, which reject the GOP’s last-minute changes.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) maintained his stance after the vote, indicating he was in no mood to continue negotiating after Johnson broke their original agreement.
“It’s a good thing the bill failed in the House,” Schumer told reporters. “And now it’s time to return to bipartisan agreement.”
Senators who voted across the Capitol intricate on an unrelated bill as the latest stopgap measure went up in smoke were unsure where negotiations will go from here as the clock ticks toward a shutdown and a likely weekend session Christmas is approaching.
“I guess it’s back to the drawing board,” Senate Minority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told The Hill as he left the Capitol. “We’ll see. We will figure out in the House what they want to do next and they will digest this latest effort and see what Plan B is.”
“We have to be able to find a path forward,” the recent majority leader continued. “We are a little over 24 hours away from a shutdown, so it has to happen quickly, but we will get there.”
With little direction, members discarded ideas that might have stood. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) predicted that a three-week “clean” continuation of the resolution without raising the debt limit could be the next course of action. However, he acknowledged that he was “worker, not management.”
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the top GOP contender in the Senate, told reporters she would support a multi-week rolling resolution that would assist get members through the holidays, but acknowledged she would not, given the ticking hourglass What is certain is where the negotiators will go next.
“I don’t know what the plan is now,” she said, adding that the inclusion of a debt ceiling augment “seems to have upset Democrats.”
“My ultimate goal is to prevent a government shutdown,” she added.
The reaction was similar on the House side, where Republicans put forward various ideas with no way out in sight.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), for example, told reporters after Thursday’s failed vote that he recommended Johnson split the emergency relief package into four separate bills: a spotless, rolling fix, disaster relief, the farm bill extension and the debt limit Suspension, adoption according to a procedural rule and subsequent voting on each individual rule.
Massie said he brought the idea to Johnson’s attention and that “it wasn’t immediately rejected.”
It’s also unclear whether Trump would support it. Massie said Trump’s team initially called for a five-year extension of the debt limit so that it would not come up again during his term as president.
Another idea floated to Johnson was to add spending cuts to the bill to offset unpaid disaster and farm aid spending, a source said, to try to rally hard-line conservatives to support the bill.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), chairman of the self-described Pragmatic Main Street Caucus, said he had suggested “a number” of ideas to Johnson but would not provide details.
Another House Republican predicted to The Hill that Republicans would move to a “clean” continuing resolution next. Another Republican lawmaker, meanwhile, said there were “rumors” in Republican circles that the Senate would try to pass the original proposal negotiated by congressional leaders in order to “block” the House.
Republicans in the Senate are resisting the idea – but are not ruling it out.
Collins, the top GOP contender in the Senate, told reporters that a Senate bill was not the “preferred course of action” but that she might foresee it given the ongoing problems.
“I don’t know what the plan is now,” she said, adding that including a debt ceiling augment “seems to have upset Democrats.”
Collins also said she would support a short-term measure that would get lawmakers through the holidays.
“Yes,” she said of the possibility of a three-week “clean” bill. “My ultimate goal is to prevent a government shutdown.”
As the clock ticks to 11:59 p.m. Friday, lawmakers are becoming aware of the time crunch they face to craft a proposal that can garner bipartisan support, get it through the House and move it through the Senate.
With time running out, Republicans are urging their colleagues to get to work.
“At some point we’re just going to put our big boy pants and big girl pants on and understand we’ve got to hit 218 here and 60 there,” Dusty Johnson said. “Ideas that don’t move us in that direction are not helpful.”
