We’ve been reporting on the government funding battle.
After a push from President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP cut out a lot the pork. presenting a clean bill that included disaster relief and funded the government to March.
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But as we reported earlier, the bill failed to pass. So that leaves the Speaker Mike Johnson with having to come up with a Plan C.
38 Republicans voted no, along with most of the Democrats.
READ MORE: Second House CR Spending Bill Vote Fails. What Happens Next?
Musk placed the blame for the failure squarely on Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Shame on @RepJeffries for rejecting a fair & simple spending bill that is desperately needed by states suffering from hurricane damage! https://t.co/TKq65oKdCw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2024
The fault is now squarely on the Democrats. If they wanted to pass disaster relief without the pork, there was their chance. So they can’t talk.
Vice President-elect JD Vance had a pretty spicy response.
Warning for graphic language:
Vance: The Democrats just voted to shut down the government, even though we had a clean CR because they didn’t want to give the president negotiating leverage during his first term or during the first year of his new term. And number two, because they would rather shut down the…
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 20, 2024
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The Democrats just voted to shut down the government, even though we had a clean CR because they didn’t want to give the president negotiating leverage during his first term or during the first year of his new term. And number two, because they would rather shut down the government and fight for global censorship bullshit. They’ve asked for a shutdown and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get
Now, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) gave the rationale for why some of the Republicans voted no.
It’s not the number of pages that matter – it’s what’s in those pages.
This CR had the same level of spending today as it did yesterday, but the debt ceiling was suspended, meaning there was no limit on the debt. I don’t trust Congress or the government to spend responsibly…
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) December 20, 2024
It’s not the number of pages that matter – it’s what’s in those pages.
This CR had the same level of spending today as it did yesterday, but the debt ceiling was suspended, meaning there was no limit on the debt. I don’t trust Congress or the government to spend responsibly without any limits.
I cannot in good conscience vote to continue Joe Biden spending levels months into Trump’s presidency.
If we did a very short CR that took us to Jan. 20th only or if we had single subject votes on the spending measures inside the bill – there likely would have been a lot more support.
We are $36 trillion in debt. We have to get this right. It’s now or never.
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Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) who voted no wants one bill for each item.
This isn’t complicated.
Separate the bills and vote on them individually.
one vote on the clean CR
one vote on the debt limit
one vote on disaster relief
one vote on farm bailouts
Radical right? Individual bills for each issue.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 20, 2024