Mike Johnson: ‘We will not have a government shutdown’
Addressing reporters following the House Republicans’ meeting before today’s midnight deadline to avert a government shutdown, House speaker Mike Johnson vowed: “We will not have a government shutdown.”
Johnson said:
We have a unified Republican conference. There’s a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward. I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet … I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown.”
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“I don’t care to count how many time I’ve reminded our colleagues, and our House counterparts, how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it. Recent history doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for interpretation on that one. When you try to use normal government function as a bargaining chip, you pay the political price,” McConnell said.
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John Thune of South Dakota will take over the Senate Republican leadership post next year, when the party also assumes the majority in the chamber. McConnell, 82, will continue representing Kentucky in the chamber through 2026. He has not said if he will seek another six-year term in the Senate.
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Congress is flirting with a federal government shutdown right as millions of Americans are hitting the road and heading to the airport ahead of Christmas, and the US Travel Association warns that a shortfall in funding could have significant consequences for the holiday season.
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“A prolonged government shutdown threatens holiday travel disruptions that Americans won’t tolerate,” the industry group’s president and CEO, Geoff Freeman, said in a statement.
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“It’s hard to see how anyone in Congress wins if they force [Transportation Security Administration] workers, air traffic controllers, and other essential employees to work without pay during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.”
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The US economy could suffer “severe economic costs” of $1bn in damage each week that government operations are disrupted, the association warned.
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He also warned of economic consequences if Congress fails to approve funds to pay for relief in parts of the country recently afflicted by wildfires and hurricanes:
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Research shows that delaying disaster relief funding until 2025 could push recovery efforts into 2026 or beyond. Americans that are suffering deserve better from their elected officials. It’s unconscionable that Congress would head home for the holidays while leaving communities devastated by disasters out in the cold.
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Asked by a reporter whether the House would vote this afternoon on legislation to keep the government open, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, replied: “Very likely, yes.”
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Johnson made very brief comments to the press as he walked between meetings, where he also described what will be in the legislation that the GOP is negotiating:
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We will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays.
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Addressing reporters following the House Republicans’ meeting before today’s midnight deadline to avert a government shutdown, House speaker Mike Johnson vowed: “We will not have a government shutdown.”
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Johnson said:
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We have a unified Republican conference. There’s a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward. I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet … I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown.”
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The US government is less than 12 hours away from shutting down, and Congress – by which we mean House Republicans – still has no plan to keep it open. But the GOP seems to be nearing one, with reports circulating that GOP leaders including speaker Mike Johnson have proposed legislation to keep funding going until March, and raise the debt ceiling once Donald Trump takes office in exchange for major spending cuts. But there’s no telling if that can pass before the shutdown happens, or at all. At the White House, Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned Republicans for “doing the bidding of their billionaire friends” and said a government shutdown could disrupt the transition to the second Trump administration.
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Here’s more on this developing story:
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Biden has not personally commented on the spending showdown, but Jean-Pierre said he has been in touch with top Democrats in Congress.
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Elon Musk, who played a major role in sinking a bipartisan funding compromise that appeared set to pass Congress earlier this week, said House Republicans’ latest spending plan “sounds promising”.
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The US government has warned its employees that a shutdown could happen, Jean-Pierre said.
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In their closed-door conference meeting, House Republican leaders have proposed authorizing government funding until March, and increasing the debt ceiling after Donald Trump inaugurated and the GOP takes control of Congress, Punchbowl News reports.
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It is unclear if their funding proposal can be enacted before midnight, when a government shutdown begins, or if it will be acceptable to Trump, who has demanded the limit on how much debt the US government can hold be increased while Joe Biden remains president.
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According to Punchbowl, House Republicans have proposed two options for funding the government over the next three months: one that can be passed today but will require Democratic votes and excludes aid for farmers and disaster relief, or a second bill that authorizes both the aid and the spending, but under House rules can only be voted on tomorrow.
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As for the debt limit, Punchbowl says Republican leaders have reached an “agreement” to increase it by $1.5tn in the first major piece of legislation Trump is expected to sign, and will couple it with $2.5tn in spending cuts. They note that they will target for reduction mandatory government spending – a category that includes Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, as well as programs to fight poverty and help poor people afford food.
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The US government has begun warning its employees that a shutdown could happen, Karine Jean-Pierre said.
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“We believe that there’s still time for Congress to prevent a partial shutdown. We believe that, but in the interest of prudent planning, we want to be prudent here, agencies did start notifying their employees for of their potential furlough today at noon,” the White House press secretary said.
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Karine Jean-Pierre made clear the White House views Donald Trump and Elon Musk as responsible for the breakdown in the spending deal that has brought the government to the brink of a shutdown.
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“Congressional Republicans did what they did because of what the president-elect said, and what Elon Musk said, that’s the reality,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned Republicans for their alliance with billionaires, which she blamed for upending congressional funding talks and bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown.
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“Republicans blew up this deal – they did – and they need to fix this, period,” Jean-Pierre said. “[Republicans need] to stop playing politics with a government shutdown, and … they’re doing the bidding of their billionaire friends, that’s what we’re seeing, at the expense of hard-working Americans.”
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Jean-Pierre did not name names, but billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy both loudly condemned a bipartisan spending deal that Congress was expected earlier this week to approve, before ultimately abandoning it at Donald Trump’s urging.
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Referring to Trump and congressional Republicans, including speaker Mike Johnson, Jean-Pierre said: “This is a mess that they created, and they need to fix this.”
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House Republicans will soon convene and discuss their latest plan to prevent a government shutdown from beginning at midnight, and answer Donald Trump’s demands for a spending bill that also raises the debt ceiling.
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CNN reports that lawmakers will meet at 12.30pm, with much to be decided. Media reports indicate that the House speaker, Mike Johnson, will propose breaking up what was one big spending bill into multiple single-issue bills that will keep the government open for another three months and approve aid for disaster relief and to farmers. But, despite Trump’s request, the speaker will not propose legislation to increase the debt ceiling – which could spark opposition in the GOP conference.
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In order for legislation to pass today, it will need to attract a two-thirds majority of votes in the House, which means many Democrats will have to be on board. If the GOP wants to enact it with a simple majority, it will need to pass it through the rules committee, and wait until tomorrow for a floor vote. If they go the latter path, government funding will lapse, but perhaps only briefly.
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Elon Musk reacted positively to the news that House Republicans may split up their government funding bill into three separate parts.
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On X, Musk wrote:
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Sounds promising
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Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who co-chair the quasi-governmental “department of government efficiency”, were instrumental in torpedoing a bipartisan spending deal that Congress was expected to approve earlier this week, and bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown.
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House Republicans will try once again to pass a bill to keep the government open beyond midnight, Politico reports.
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It is unclear what is in the bill, but Ralph Norman, a Republican congressman and member of the rightwing House Freedom caucus, said the party will try to pass it via the rules committee – which means it will only need to win a simple majority in the House for approval.
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Last night’s spending bill was voted on under suspension of rules, in which legislation requires a two-thirds majority to pass. That effort failed, due to opposition from almost all Democrats, as well some Republicans.
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In brief remarks from the Senate floor, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer called on Republicans to honor a government funding agreement that appeared set to pass earlier this week, before Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s demands scuttled the deal.
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“It’s time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago. It’s time for that. It’s time the House votes on our bipartisan CR,” Schumer said.
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“It’s the quickest, simplest and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open, while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people. If the House put our original agreement on the floor today, it would pass, and we could put the threat of a shutdown behind us.”
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Joe Biden has not commented on the spending fiasco that has unfolded over the past few days.
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Today, his public schedule includes only a visit to a children’s hospital in Washington DC in the afternoon. However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will hold a briefing at 12.15pm ET, and likely weigh in on the spending squabble then.
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In an interview with CNN today, Democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell was asked why Biden has not yet weighed in publicly. She replied:
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I know that he’s been very engaged. I myself talked to the White House multiple times yesterday. Thursday was the anniversary of his first wife’s death. So, he did go to Delaware and went to mass, a ritual I respect. But he’s very much present watching this. I think right now it’s time to see the Republicans, that they’re the ones that wanted to blow up the deal. They’re the ones – so you’re all paying attention to President Musk, and soon to be President Trump again.
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Donald Trump has made his political calculations clear in his latest post on Truth Social, writing that he wants a government shutdown to happen while Joe Biden is president:
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If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under “TRUMP.” This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!
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Donald Trump repeated his demand for the suspension – or even elimination – of the federal borrowing limit and continued a political crisis which threatens a US government shutdown on Friday at midnight.
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In an early morning post on his Truth Social social media platform Trump said: “Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
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For the first 200 years of the US’s existence, they did not happen at all. In recent decades, they have become an increasingly regular part of the political landscape, as Washington politics has become more polarised and brinkmanship a commonplace political tool. There have been 20 federal funding gaps since 1976, when the US first shifted the start of its fiscal year to 1 October.
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Three shutdowns in particular have entered US political lore:
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A 21-day partial closure in 1995 over a dispute about spending cuts between President Bill Clinton and the Republican speaker, Newt Gingrich, that is widely seen as setting the tone for later partisan congressional struggles.
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In 2013, when the government was partially closed for 16 days after another Republican-led Congress tried to use budget negotiations to defund Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.
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A 34-day shutdown, the longest on record, lasting from December 2018 until January 2019, when Donald Trump refused to sign any appropriations bill that did not include $5.7bn funding for a wall along the US border with Mexico. The closure damaged Trump’s poll ratings.
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Here are a few more details about what happens when the US government shuts down:
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Thousands of federal government employees are put on furlough, meaning that they are told not to report for work and go unpaid for the period of the shutdown, although their salaries are paid retroactively when it ends.
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Other government workers who perform what are judged essential services, such as air traffic controllers and law enforcement officials, continue to work but do not get paid until Congress acts to end the shutdown.
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Depending on how long it lasts, national parks can either shut entirely or open without certain vital services such as public toilets or attendants. Passport processing can stop, as can research – at national health institutes.
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Federal inspections ensuring food safety and prevention of the release of dangerous materials into drinking water could stop for the duration of the shutdown.
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About 10,000 children aged three and four may also lose access to Head Start, a federally funded program to promote school readiness among toddlers, especially among low-income families.
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Good morning US politics readers. The US government faces a looming shutdown after the House rejected a bill late on Thursday that would have agreed a temporary funding deal just before a crucial deadline.
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By a vote of 174-235, the House of Representatives rejected a Trump-backed package, hastily assembled by Republican leaders after the president-elect and his billionaire ally Elon Musk scuttled a prior bipartisan deal.
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Now lawmakers face a last-minute scramble to secure a new deal before the Friday night deadline – or all nonessential government functions will pause.
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Thousands of federal government employees would be put on furlough, meaning that they are told not to report for work and go unpaid for the period of the shutdown, although their salaries are paid retroactively when it ends.
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Other government workers who perform what are judged essential services, such as air traffic controllers and law enforcement officials, continue to work but do not get paid until Congress acts to end the shutdown.
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A shutdown just before the holiday season hits its peak, could be disastrous for millions of Americans.
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Key events
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Well, folks, we made it through another hectic Friday on Capitol Hill as the House of Representatives struggled to get a spending bill passed. That bill is now with the Senate, which will have to pass it before a midnight EST deadline.
Here’s a summary of how it all unfolded, plus some other bits from the day in politics:
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The House passed a spending bill hours before the deadline for a government shutdown. The continuing resolution passed with 366 yea votes and 34 nays.
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House Republicans proposed government funding legislation that will require a two-thirds majority to pass the chamber, and does not include an increase to the debt ceiling, Punchbowl News reports. That meant the bill will need at least some Democratic votes to reach the Senate.
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JD Vance and Russ Vought, an author of Project 2025 whom Donald Trump nominated to lead a powerful White House office, were scheduled to meet this morning with lawmakers in the rightwing Freedom Caucus, Punchbowl News reports.
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Donald Trump, warned the EU that it will face trade tariffs on its exports to the US unless its member states buy more American oil and gas.
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Donald Trump said that if a shutdown happens, ‘let it begin now’. In an early Friday morning post on his Truth Social social media platform, Trump said: “Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
House speaker Mike Johnson says that he was in “constant contact” with Donald Trump as the House worked to vote on a spending bill. During a post-vote press conference, Johnson said that Trump is “happy about this outcome as well”.
He also emphasized that this vote was a necessary step toward getting Americans the aid that they need, especially after a devastating hurricane season, telling reporters:
This was a necessary step to bridge the gap to put us into that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the final spending decisions for 2025. We also in this bill took care of Americans who desperately needed and deserved the assistance … We are excited about this outcome. We are grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing, and having gotten this down now as the last order of business for the year, we’re set up for a big and important new start in January.
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Here is a breakdown of how the vote on the House spending bill went down:
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196 Democrats voted to pass the bill
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170 Republicans voted to pass the bill
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34 Republicans rejected the bill
The debt ceiling was not raised despite Donald Trump’s demand for the cap to increase. The bill is now headed to the Senate, which has until midnight to pass the spending bill.
The House has passed a spending bill, averting a government shutdown. The continuing resolution passed with 366 yea votes and 34 nays.
As we await the result of the House vote, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, announced that Joe Biden supports the proposed legislation. In a statement released on Friday, Jean-Pierre said:
A government shutdown heading into the holidays would mean service members and air traffic controllers go to work without pay, essential government services for hardworking Americans would be paused, and economic disruption would occur.
Following an order by President-elect Trump, yesterday Republicans walked away from a bipartisan deal and threatened to shut down the government at the 11th hour in order to pave the way to provide tax breaks for billionaires. This revised legislation does not do that.
While it does not include everything we sought, it includes disaster relief that the President requested for the communities recovering from the storm, eliminates the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires, and would ensure that the government can continue to operate at full capacity. President Biden supports moving this legislation forward and ensuring that the vital services the government provides for hardworking Americans
– from issuing Social Security checks to processing benefits for veterans – can continue as well as to grant assistance for communities that were impacted by devastating hurricanes.
A vote on the house’s new continuing resolution is under way. If it passes, the government will avoid a shutdown.
Chip Roy, a Republic representative from Texas, announced that he will be voting no on the recently introduced bill to keep the government funded.
In a post on X, Roy said:
On this third “funding” CR – progress having been made on future cuts/debt ceiling notwithstanding – I must vote no. $110bb unpaid-for, extension of food stamps with no reform, gimmicks to pay for health extenders, breaks 72 hour rule … More of the same.
The House is expected to vote on the continuing resolution (CR) in the next few minutes, according to a schedule released by Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip.
Here is the tentative schedule for today’s vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government until a full appropriations bill is passed, per Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip. Based on this schedule, it should be coming in less than 45 minutes.
This schedule is in eastern standard time:
At approximately 4:45 p.m., the House will reconvene and debate H.R.__ – American Relief Act, 2025.
At approximately 5:00 – 5:30 p.m., the House will take a vote.
Next vote predicted: at approximately 5:00 – 5:30 p.m., on passage of the CR.
The newly introduced government spending bill has been released. Officials are expected to vote on it in the next hour, according to Jake Sherman with Punchbowl News. Clocking in at 118 pages, the bill is a continuing resolution (CR) that would allow the government to fund itself before the full appropriations have been finalized.
You can read the full text here.
In final speech as Senate GOP leader, Mitch McConnell warns against government shutdown
Mitch McConnell is in his final days as the top Republican in the Senate, and used his last speech on the floor while in the job of minority leader to warn against failing to fund the government.
“I don’t care to count how many time I’ve reminded our colleagues, and our House counterparts, how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it. Recent history doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for interpretation on that one. When you try to use normal government function as a bargaining chip, you pay the political price,” McConnell said.
John Thune of South Dakota will take over the Senate Republican leadership post next year, when the party also assumes the majority in the chamber. McConnell, 82, will continue representing Kentucky in the chamber through 2026. He has not said if he will seek another six-year term in the Senate.
House Republicans intend to propose government funding legislation that will require a two-thirds majority to pass the chamber, and does not include an increase to the debt ceiling, Punchbowl News reports.
That means the bill will need at least some Democratic votes in order to reach the Senate.
The GOP has not released the funding bill’s text, nor said how it will handle passing disaster relief or aid to farmers – both priorities for many lawmakers.
Travel industry warns of ‘severe economic costs’ if government shuts down amid holidays
Congress is flirting with a federal government shutdown right as millions of Americans are hitting the road and heading to the airport ahead of Christmas, and the US Travel Association warns that a shortfall in funding could have significant consequences for the holiday season.
“A prolonged government shutdown threatens holiday travel disruptions that Americans won’t tolerate,” the industry group’s president and CEO, Geoff Freeman, said in a statement.
“It’s hard to see how anyone in Congress wins if they force [Transportation Security Administration] workers, air traffic controllers, and other essential employees to work without pay during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.”
The US economy could suffer “severe economic costs” of $1bn in damage each week that government operations are disrupted, the association warned.
He also warned of economic consequences if Congress fails to approve funds to pay for relief in parts of the country recently afflicted by wildfires and hurricanes:
Research shows that delaying disaster relief funding until 2025 could push recovery efforts into 2026 or beyond. Americans that are suffering deserve better from their elected officials. It’s unconscionable that Congress would head home for the holidays while leaving communities devastated by disasters out in the cold.
Johnson says afternoon vote on government funding deal ‘very likely’
Asked by a reporter whether the House would vote this afternoon on legislation to keep the government open, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, replied: “Very likely, yes.”
Johnson made very brief comments to the press as he walked between meetings, where he also described what will be in the legislation that the GOP is negotiating:
We will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays.
Mike Johnson: ‘We will not have a government shutdown’
Addressing reporters following the House Republicans’ meeting before today’s midnight deadline to avert a government shutdown, House speaker Mike Johnson vowed: “We will not have a government shutdown.”
Johnson said:
We have a unified Republican conference. There’s a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward. I will not telegraph to you the specific details of that yet … I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown.”
Florida’s Democratic representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost criticized the GOP’s reported plans to cut spending next year, saying:
There is no way to cut $2.5tn in spending unless you make cuts to social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
He went on to add:
My parent’s social security check should not be cut to pay for President Elon Musk’s massive billionaire tax cuts.
Senator-elect Jim Banks of Indiana spoke to reporters after attending a House conference, Politico’s Jordain Carney reports.
“I think they are a long ways away from deciding anything,” Banks said, adding that he is looking forward to being a senator.
