WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republicans are unveiling a new stopgap spending measure to keep the government funded. This comes after President-Elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk pressured members to oppose a previous deal.
The new version of the measure is noticeably trimmed down. The text itself went from 15-hundred pages to 116 pages. In this new version, it still keeps some provisions in it from the previous version, like disaster relief following those severe storms that hit Florida and the east coast not too long ago. In the new version, it extends the Farm Bill for a year. That bill is already way over due. President-Elect Donald Trump said on social media he wanted to make changes to the debt ceiling. In this new bill, it would suspend the debt ceiling for two more years.
Members like Congressman Marc Molinaro (R- NY) said they wanted to see a clean CR pass and avoid a shutdown. Members had to re-work these changes after Trump and Musk came out against that initial version.
That large, initial omnibus spending bill was the product of bipartisan negotiations with leaders in the House and Senate. It was shot down after being attacked by many members on the right as well as DOGE leaders, Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk.
Musk said on his social media platform “x” on Wednesday that “no bills should be passed by congress until Jan 20, when Donald Trump takes office.” As pressure mounted from Musk and the President-Elect, the dominoes began to fall until it was clear there was not enough support for this bill in the House. Thursday morning, Democrats said Republicans walked back on a good-faith agreement.
Trump weighed in a short while ago on Truth Social saying “Success in Washington! — Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good deal for the American people.” Trump said “all Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our country, and vote “yes” for this bill, tonight!”
Republicans we spoke with are on board with a “skinnier” CR, keeping the government open, and adjusting the debt ceiling.
“I think the president is right,” said Rep. Marc Molinaro (R- NY). “We need a skinnier C.R., respectful of taxpayers, maybe meeting some of those bigger disaster and emergency needs. Farming, our farm assistance and disaster assistance, but also raises the debt ceiling so that they can govern in the new year.”
The deadline to fund the government is Friday at midnight. If they don’t make that deadline, it could have an impact on travel, visiting national parks and government workers and members of the military won’t get paychecks, just to name a few.
