By Catie Edmondson
On Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson was struggling to devise a workaround for a government shutdown following President-elect Donald Trump’s derailment of the spending agreement Johnson reached with Democrats earlier that week, leaving Republicans without a plan to finance the government after a Friday night deadline.
As Johnson convened his aides Thursday morning in his Capitol office, lawmakers eager to head home ahead of a planned winter break were left uncertain with no clear answers to continue federal funding beyond 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
“The situation is fluid,” remarked Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the Republican whip, to reporters Thursday morning in what seemed to be an understatement of the situation.
Johnson found himself trapped between two seemingly impossible choices. Trump has essentially killed the extensive bipartisan agreement, filled with unrelated policy amendments, that the speaker had worked out to keep the government running until mid-March. That agreement would have needed substantial Democratic support, but a Republican backlash spurred by Trump and Elon Musk drained it of even the minimal GOP backing necessary to secure passage in the House.
What Trump instead insisted on was that Republicans connect a pared-down government funding legislation with a measure to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling entirely—a proposal likely to face resistance from several Republicans, and it would be difficult to convince Democrats, who are outraged that the Republicans have abandoned their prior agreement.
Johnson’s strategy to prevent a shutdown collapsed on Wednesday amidst pushback from GOP lawmakers, partly stirred by Musk, who spent much of the day criticizing the proposal on social media and threatening the political future of any Republican who voted for it.
Afterward, Trump weighed in, demanding that Republicans not only dismiss Johnson’s proposal, which intertwined the government funding bill with $100 billion in disaster relief and a variety of policy shifts, but also raise or eliminate the debt ceiling.
The debt limit is projected to be reached in January—though many believe it could extend into the spring—and failing to raise it would lead to a default on national debt. Trump conceded he did not want to bear the responsibility for increasing it.
“Raising the debt ceiling isn’t ideal,” Trump stated, “but we’d prefer to do it while Biden is in charge.”
This demand has significantly complicated the way forward. Numerous Republicans staunchly oppose raising the debt limit. Some refuse to consider it at all, while others may agree to a raise only after securing significant spending reductions.
The fallout could not occur at a more crucial moment for Johnson, who is aiming to be reelected as speaker on Jan. 3. Trump issued a subtle threat Wednesday night regarding the jeopardized stopgap spending bill, indicating to Fox News Digital that Johnson will be “easily” reelected next year if he follows Trump’s directives.
When asked during a telephone interview Thursday if he still had faith in Johnson, Trump told NBC News, “We’ll see,” adding that the spending agreement he negotiated was “unacceptable.”
Simultaneously, the speaker’s management of the spending deal has prompted several conservatives to openly contemplate their support for him in the upcoming vote on the House floor early next year, when he can sustain only a few defections from the GOP to secure the majority needed to remain in his position. At least one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who was instrumental in the earlier effort to remove Johnson, declared he will not vote for him as speaker.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., stated on the social platform X that “Johnson needs to change the failed trend of making shady deals in secrecy and keeping the party in the dark. Republicans should collaborate to fulfill the mandate. This necessitates significant changes in conduct.”
