House Republican negotiators have reportedly reached a third deal on spending legislation to avert a government shutdown at the end of Friday, but Senate Democrat leaders have already thrown cold water on it.
According to Fox News’ Capitol Hill sources, the agreement involves three separate bills that include “a short-term extension of this year’s federal funding levels, disaster aid funding, and agricultural aid for farmers.”
Republicans have also reportedly come to an agreement on a plan to act on the debt limit next year through the reconciliation process as part of a “massive conservative policy overhaul.”
President-Elect Donald Trump and two of his key allies—Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—on Wednesday torpedoed the first bloated Omnibus bill to keep the government open.
Clocking in at over 1,500 pages, the Omnibus would have extended current government funding levels until March 14, but included objectionable measures such as an automatic pay raise for Congressional lawmakers, an Obamacare opt out for lawmakers, a funding extension for a State Department censorship project, legislation aimed at revitalizing RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, and a provision that let Congress block subpoenas for House data, including emails, potentially preventing any investigation into the partisan Select January 6 Committee.
Trump urged Republicans to negotiate the debt limit before he comes to office so he wouldn’t have to deal with it, an idea dozens of conservative lawmakers opposed. The national debt now exceeds $36 trillion.
House Speaker Johnson’s (R-La.) second plan whittled the bill down from 1,547 pages to 116 pages, but came with the same price tag of $110B. That plan went down in flames Thursday night after 38 Republicans voted with all but two Democrats to kill it.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, one of the conservatives who voted against the second bill explained his reasoning on X: “Old bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $0 increase in the national credit card. New bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $4 TRILLION+ debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. Time to read the bill: 1.5 hours. I will vote no,” he wrote.
After the second bill failed, Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Speaker Johnson to return to the original, pork-laden Omnibus deal.
“It’s a good thing the bill failed in the House, and now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement we came to,” Schumer said Thursday evening.
Just after midnight on Truth Social, Trump again urged Congress to “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.”
According to Fox, Roy and the “other members of the 38-person coalition who opposed the Trump-backed bill were mostly mum on details when leaving a meeting in Johnson’s office on Friday morning.”
Senator Schumer was not mum however, stating in a floor speech Friday that he would only back the reviled 1,547-page bill.
“If Republicans do not work with Democrats in a bipartisan way very soon, the government will shut down at midnight,” he said.
“It’s time to go back to the original agreement we had just a few days ago. It’s time the House votes on our bipartisan CR [continuing resolution],” Schumer added. “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.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also made clear that Democrats will only move forward on the original Omnibus.
“I’m ready to stay here through Christmas because we’re not going to let Elon Musk run the government,” she said in a Friday morning statement.
On Truth Social, Friday morning, Trump posted: “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!”