Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it “good news” late Friday that the Senate reached a unanimous agreement to jump the usual hurdles and quickly pass a funding bill.
Just three days ago, leaders of both parties in the House and Senate agreed to keep the government lights on, but Trump and his billionaire confidante Elon Musk killed the deal at the eleventh hour by insisting that the debt limit must be extended or repealed. Road to Trump’s agenda next year.
The backup plan, removed from the original deal and approved by Trump and Musk, then caught fire on the House floor, seized by Democrats and 38 Republicans who objected to the debt extension.
That left few good options for Johnson, who is fighting to retain his speakership. After more than two hours of one-on-one talks with senior Republicans on Friday, Johnson told his party he was pushing Plan C: the same package that was brought to the floor the day before, but without increasing Trump’s debt.
Leaving a private GOP meeting, Johnson told reporters there would be no shutdown and that House Republicans were “united.”
“We will not shut down the government and we will honor our commitments to our farmers in need, disaster victims across the country, and make sure that the military and essential services and everyone who relies on the federal government are provided. salary is paid on holidays,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he spoke with both Trump and Musk on Friday. “I have spoken with President Trump at length and he knows exactly what we are doing,” the speaker said.
Musk approved the plan in a House vote, writing on his X social media site that Johnson is “doing a good job here given the circumstances.”
According to another source familiar with his thinking, the president-elect preferred to remain silent on the bill. Trump’s preference was still to touch the debt ceiling, the source added: “Johnson should have listened when the president-elect told him to do so a month ago. And in every conversation since then.”
But Trump may be willing to “win” on a financing deal that cuts a significant portion of what he sees as “pork,” the source continued, noting that the process has given Trump’s team a sense of where the votes lie in both parties. with a debt limit next year.
To meet Trump’s last-minute demand to raise the debt ceiling, Republicans have instead agreed to commit to more than $2 trillion in government spending cuts and include debt growth in next year’s reconciliation package, according to many lawmakers.
Some Republicans doubt the debt limit pact is worth the paper it’s printed on.
“I think they call it a gentleman’s agreement,” he said. “And there are no gentlemen here, my friend.”
