By Richard Cowan, Bo Erickson, Andy Sullivan and Katharine Jackson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday disrupted bipartisan efforts to avert a government shutdown as he pressured his fellow Republicans in Congress to reject a stopgap bill to keep the government funded past the end of the week.
Trump instead urged Congress to pass legislation that would tie up loose ends before he takes office next month by raising the government’s borrowing authority — a politically difficult task — and extending government funding. He also said lawmakers should strip out elements backed by Democrats, whose support would be necessary for passage.
Trump’s attempt to influence Congress more than a month before he takes office could complicate efforts to avert a shutdown that would disrupt everything from air travel to law enforcement in the days leading up to the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday.
He warned that Republicans who vote for the current legislative package could have trouble getting re-elected.
“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” Trump wrote on social media.
It would be the first government shutdown since one that extended through December 2018 into 2019, during Trump’s first four-year White House term.
Democrats currently hold a majority in the Senate, and Democratic President Joe Biden remains in power until Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
The current bill would fund government agencies at current levels and provide $100 billion for disaster relief and $10 billion in farm aid. It also includes a wide range of unrelated provisions, such as a pay raise for lawmakers and a crackdown on hidden hotel fees.
Trump said Congress should limit the bill to temporary spending and disaster relief and also raise the national debt ceiling now before it comes to a head next year.
“Unless the Democrats terminate or substantially extend the Debt Ceiling now, I will fight ’till the end,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.
Congress’s next steps were unclear. Bipartisan agreement will be needed to pass any spending bill through the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently have a 219-211 majority, and the Senate.
The stopgap measure is needed because Congress has failed to pass regular spending legislation for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. It does not cover benefit programs like Social Security, which continue automatically.
The U.S. government has spent more money than it has taken in for more than 20 years, as Democrats have expanded health programs and Republicans have cut taxes. An aging population is projected to push up the cost of retirement and health programs in the years to come.
Steadily mounting debt – currently $36 trillion – will force lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling at some point, either now or when borrowing authority runs out next year. Failure to act could shock bond markets with potentially severe economic consequences.
MUSK WADES IN
Trump’s comments came after his ally Elon Musk pressured Congress to reject the bill and said those who back it should be voted out of office.
The Tesla chief executive and world’s richest person, who spent more than $250 million to help Trump get elected, has been tasked by Trump to prune the federal budget.
Unless Congress acts, the federal government will run out of money to fund operations on Saturday. The deal reached on Tuesday would have extended funding through March 14.
House Republicans huddled in the office of Speaker Mike Johnson late Wednesday to determine their next move. Even before Trump and Musk weighed in, some on the party’s right flank had come out against the bill on the grounds that it spent too much money and included too many unrelated provisions.
“The Speaker tried to get the votes and the necessary votes weren’t there. And then we saw what happened on social media, and a lot of folks have, you know, had second thoughts. And so now we got to recalibrate,” Representative Kevin Hern told reporters outside Johnson’s office.
Republican Representative Mike Rogers said changes to the debt ceiling should not be included in the current negotiations.
“It’s complicated enough without that,” he told reporters. Democrats said Republicans had walked away from a bipartisan deal.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown.”
Trump in the past has sometimes voiced support for government shutdowns, and the 2018-2019 one was the longest in U.S. history, lasting 34 days.
Musk has emerged as one of the biggest spenders in U.S. politics this year, and his threat could resonate with some Republicans. It likely carries less weight with Democrats who represent solidly liberal areas, or senators from both parties who will not be up for reelection for another six years. Musk tried and failed in November to influence the outcome of the Senate Republicans’ leadership contest.
A wide range of government services would be disrupted if Congress does not act before Saturday, including agencies like the Pentagon and NASA that do business with Musk’s companies.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson, Andy Sullivan and Bo Erickson; additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)
