Trump-backed bill to avert government shutdown fails

WASHINGTON — A House Republican bill to fund the government for three months and suspend the debt ceiling for two years failed Thursday night, as dozens of rank-and-file Republicans voted against the deal endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump.

Without a deal to fund the federal government and legislation that has passed the House and Senate and been signed into law, a partial shutdown is set to begin late Friday night.

A total of 38 Republicans voted against the bill hammered out by their own party’s leaders. The 38 were joined by every Democrat, save for two who voted in favor and one who voted present.

It was unclear late Thursday what House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would do next, given how substantial the opposition to the bill was from within his own party.

Trump and his ally Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, had already doomed a prior funding proposal Wednesday by harshly criticizing its provisions, sending Republicans scrambling for most of Thursday for a replacement plan.

The latest failed version of the continuing resolution would have suspended the U.S. debt ceiling for two years. The ceiling is the maximum the federal government can borrow to pay for its spending.

That suspension was a surprising last-minute addition to the proposal, as increasing the debt ceiling typically requires months of negotiations.

But Trump said Wednesday that he did not want to take office in January and immediately face a vote by Congress on the debt limit. Trump this week called for permanently abolishing the debt ceiling.

The new proposal also called for a $110 billion extension of disaster and farm aid, which was a key demand by House Democrats.

Although Democrats hold a minority of seats in the House, Republicans have a majority by only a handful of seats, making it difficult to pass significant legislation without at least a modicum of bipartisan support.