House Fails To Pass Trump-Backed Spending Deal In First Go

The GOP-led House rejected on Thursday evening a revamped spending bill that would stave off a government shutdown by the end of the week, but the measure that is backed by President-elect Donald Trump is not down and out yet as there could be another vote on some form of it by Friday.

Just hours after the new deal was unveiled, 172 Republicans and two Democrats voted for the bill. It failed to pass under suspension of the rules, meaning the bill needed a two-thirds majority for it to succeed. Another 38 Republicans voted against the bill, siding with the majority of Democrats.

Revised GOP CR fails to even get a majority, let alone two-thirds. 38 Republicans defy Trump. Just 2 Dems voted for the bill. pic.twitter.com/Y1dZVGyTR9

— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) December 19, 2024

Now the bill is expected to get a rule that would allow the House to be able to pass it by a simple majority. However, that process will take some time, and a final vote likely will not happen until Friday. That may give GOP leaders time to flip some members who voted against the bill the first time.

As evidenced by a tense debate on the House floor, at least some of the Republican opposition to the spending legislation rests with how the bill will extend a suspension of the debt ceiling for another two years beyond January of next year, when the current suspension is slated to expire.

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The legislation that has a continuing resolution (CR) to avert a government shutdown by the weekend had been shaved down by Republicans from 1,547 pages in its original form negotiated between the GOP-led House and Democrat-controlled Senate to 116 pages in the latest version.

According to reports, top-line takeaways from the new deal include a three-month CR, two-year suspension of the debt ceiling until January 2027, a “clean” farm bill package, $110 billion disaster package, clean health extenders without pharmacy benefit manager reform, PAYGO Scorecard wiped to zero, and no E15 provisions in a blow to the ethanol industry.

Trump celebrated the new version of legislation and encouraged lawmakers to vote in favor of it. He alluded to his forthcoming second term and GOP control of Congress, saying, “Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish.”

Provisions cut from the original CR include a pay raise for lawmakers, the reauthorization of a State Department agency critics say is at the center of a government “censorship scheme,” and a section allowing the transfer of jurisdiction of the RFK stadium site from the federal government to D.C.

Other elements from the initial CR legislation seem to have made it in some form or another into the Republicans’ revamped measure, such as funds for the rebuilding of Maryland’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was devastated by a ship collision earlier this year, and some other items.

Elon Musk, who has been tasked with helping to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and Trump condemned the initial CR. Many Republicans piled on what they slammed as the “cramnibus,” leaving House GOP leadership to begin work on a Plan B offering on Tuesday night.

Many Democrats criticized their GOP colleagues for torpedoing the original CR deal after weeks of negotiations. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Republicans are doing the bidding of their billionaire benefactors at the expense of hardworking Americans.”