Showdown in Congress
Trump gives the green light – but the draft still fails
Updated 12/20/2024 – 2:03 amReading time: 3 minutes
A revised bill for a bridging budget has failed in the US Parliament. That’s surprising, since Donald Trump had already agreed.
The US House of Representatives was unable to agree on Thursday to pass a new stopgap budget bill. The Republican Party’s proposal to avert a government shutdown failed due to resistance from leading Republicans. The danger of the US administration coming to a standstill is now increasing. If the US Parliament cannot agree on a corresponding law by Friday night, the federal authorities in the USA will go on strike from Saturday afternoon, 1201 a.m. local time.
The vote was 174 to 235, with 38 Republicans voting against and two Democrats voting in favor. The result comes as a surprise, as Trump had recently given his approval to the revised draft.
In his online service Truth Social, he wrote on Thursday of a “success in Washington.” “A very good agreement for the American people” has now been reached, said the US President-elect. As he requested, the new text stipulates that the national debt ceiling will remain suspended until January 2027. Both Republicans and Democrats should have approved this draft, Trump wrote.
But things turned out differently. Also because many Republicans rejected the bill, as reported by the US broadcaster CNN, among others.
“The MAGA extremists in the Republican Party refuse to stand with hard-working Americans. They prefer to dance to the tune of their powerful donors and puppeteers. This is unacceptable,” said influential Democrat Hakeem Jeffries. The minority leader in the House of Representatives was clearly referring to Elon Musk’s role. The richest man on earth and patron of Donald Trump is exerting ever greater influence on the fate of US politics.
The Democrats are frustrated and angry because they had actually long ago agreed on a common text on the law with the Republicans. The resolution of the budget dispute was preceded by weeks to months of arduous negotiations on Capitol Hill. Everything was actually ready for voting.
Republicans, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, then desperately searched for a Plan B to meet the president-elect’s last-minute demands. This plan was up for a vote on Thursday, but failed because the necessary two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives was not reached.
Texas Rep. Chip Roy said he would be happy to talk to Johnson about a new version of the bill. However, he will not vote for a further increase in the debt ceiling if he does not know exactly what the budget cuts proposed in the bill will look like. The Republican Roy is considered a staunch opponent of raising the debt ceiling, but this is exactly what Trump had previously called for.
How things can proceed now remains to be seen. On Capitol Hill, the center of power in the US capital Washington, parliamentarians are trying to work hectically and under great pressure on a new solution. The clock is ticking for them. The law must pass Congress by Friday night, otherwise hundreds of thousands of public servants will face a miserable Christmas.
