Headline Roundup • December 19th, 2024
House GOP's New Funding Bill Voted Down as Government Shutdown Looms
Politics,Government Funding,Government Shutdown,Mike Johnson,House Republicans,Donald Trump,Elon Musk
Summary from the AllSides News Team
House Republicans scrapped their initial proposal after vocal opposition from President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, introducing a slimmer continuing resolution that was voted down Thursday evening. The government will shut down if no spending bill is passed by Friday.
The Details: After a funding bill passed with bipartisan support on Tuesday, Musk criticized it in a "flurry of posts and reposts" on X and called for a new version, as reported by The Hill (Center bias). House Republicans acquiesced after Trump echoed Musk's criticisms. Democrats were not involved in drafting the new bill and signaled opposition ahead of the vote, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responding "hell no" to a reporter's question.
How the Bills Compare: The first funding bill was 1,547 pages, with provisions including a crackdown on pharmacy benefit managers, restrictions on financing Chinese technology, and the transfer of a football stadium's ownership to the D.C. municipal government. The second bill was 116 pages and reduced to a handful of priorities: funding the government until March 15, suspending the debt ceiling for two years, extending the farm bill, and providing disaster recovery aid.
How the Media Covered It: Yahoo News (Lean Left) observed Trump appeared "pissed" at Democrats' insinuation that Musk was more in charge than him. Reuters (Center) said the new bill "largely resembled the earlier version that Musk and Trump had blasted as a wasteful giveaway to Democrats." Fox News (Right) noted "the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion," while CBS News (Lean Left) pointed out Trump's recent comment implying "he'd prefer to force Mr. Biden to approve raising the debt ceiling so he wouldn't have to."
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AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee
A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.
Congress is inching closer to the possibility of a partial shutdown, with the deadline coming at the end of Friday.
A Republican spending bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, leaving Congress with no clear plan to avert a fast-approaching government shutdown that could disrupt Christmas travel.
By a vote of 174-235, the House rejected the spending package, which was hastily assembled by Republican leaders after Trump and billionaire Elon Musk scuttled a prior bipartisan deal. Despite Trump's support, 38 Republicans voted against the package along with all but three Democrats.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
House Republicans tried and failed Thursday evening to fast-track a measure to keep the government funded through a maneuver that required a two-thirds majority, pushing the government closer to a shutdown.
House GOP leaders can still bring it up through regular channels by sending it through committee, and this would enable them to try again to pass it with a simple majority. But dozens of Republicans voted against the measure, while only two Democrats voted in favor. The final tally was 174 in favor, 235 against and one present.
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