WASHINGTON – Congress reaches agreement in 11 hours Avoid a government shutdown during the holidaysbut in the process, it stretched President-elect Donald Trump’s already extensive to-do list in his first year back in office.
The appropriations bill keeps the government open until March 14.
Additionally, Trump’s demands for Congress to extend or repeal the debt ceiling to free it from next year’s mandate also failed dramatically. On Wednesday, he threatened to challenge “any Republican who votes for the administration that doesn’t involve the debt ceiling” in the election primary. On Friday, 170 House Republicans defied his demands and did just that.
This week’s turmoil foreshadows the legislative chaos ahead for Trump’s second administration, with the incoming president facing a series of major deadlines and ambitions.
Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said Republicans were wrong to bet money on March 14 and should approve a stopgap bill by the end of September next year to clear the way for Trump’s agenda.
“I think it’s a little silly,” he said of the new deadline. “Don’t ask me to explain or defend this dysfunction.”
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said late Friday that the “lesson” of the past few days is: “Unity is our strength. Disunity is the enemy of the conservative cause.”
He suggested that Trump and his team avoid this situation in the future by making legislative demands “early on” so that Republicans can “work out any differences” before the deadline.
“The House needs to over-communicate between our various factions,” Barr said. “The House needs to over-communicate with (incoming Senate) Majority Leader (John) Thune, and both the House and the Senate need to over-communicate with the administration. “
Communication has been extremely poor in the past four days. A day after House Speaker Mike Johnson released a preliminary bipartisan agreement, Trump and his billionaire chum Elon Musk screwed up. The spokesman went through three more iterations of his plan to prevent a government shutdown, ultimately succeeding after rejecting Trump’s most important and last-minute request.
“I’m concerned,” said Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, who faces re-election in 2026. This will continue for two years and may get worse.
On Thursday night, Wisconsin Rep. Derek Van Orden downplayed what he called a “disjointed process,” saying it was a natural way for House Republicans and the Trump team to understand “how to communicate with each other.”
“It’s going to be great. You know why it’s going to be great? Because now we know how to work together,” Van Alden said before Speaker Johnson’s Plan B went up in flames on the House floor.
Van Orden’s fellow Wisconsinite, Sen. Johnson, was less optimistic about successfully completing the early parts of the 2025 agenda.
“There’s no question we have a mess on our hands,” Johnson said. “That’s why I try to promise less and hopefully deliver more.”
In addition to another government funding deadline and the need to address the debt ceiling by mid-2025 to avoid a catastrophic default, Trump and Republicans will need to confirm his appointments through the Senate, which they hope will Major party line bill seeks to strengthen immigration enforcement and extend expiring 2017 tax law.
“It’s not going to be boring,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz deadpanned when asked about the tasks facing Congress next year.
Separately, Musk’s role in scuttling the original bipartisan funding deal also sparked outrage on Capitol Hill.
“A lot of people on both sides of the aisle are deeply disturbed by billionaires threatening people if they don’t vote the right way,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said after the House vote that last week’s riot was “a harbinger of some very ominous things to come next year,” noting that the Republican majority in the lower chamber would be Even smaller next year.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of turmoil on the Republican side of the House because of the instability, chaos and disruption that Trump has embraced,” Connolly said.
He also wants to know whether Republicans will be able to elect a speaker with a slim majority on Jan. 3. After 15 rounds of voting to elect a speaker at the start of the last Congress, some far-right Republicans are wavering on Speaker Johnson this week after dealing with the threat of a government shutdown.
“So I leave tonight very disturbed by what we just went through,” Connolly said before the House adjourned. “I think it’s very ominous and very ominous.”
