Trump-Supported Budget Proposal Rejected in House of Representatives; Risk of U.S. Government Shutdown

The proposal supported by Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States, to fund the federal government for the next three months did not receive enough votes from members of the House of Representatives during the Thursday night session, thus increasing the likelihood of a government shutdown. The proposal needed at least two-thirds of the House members' votes to pass, but only 174 supported it while 235 voted against it. The congressional meeting on Thursday night, December 20, regarding the federal budget for the upcoming three months witnessed political struggles not only between Democrats and Republicans but also among Trump's own party members. If a short-term funding agreement for the federal government is not reached by Saturday, January 1, the government will shut down, and payments for approximately two million government employees may be delayed just before Christmas. Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House, emphasized that efforts to reach a solution would continue on Friday. Elon Musk, appointed by Donald Trump as one of two officials of a new entity to improve government efficiency, had urged House members to draft a new proposal instead of one that both Democratic and Republican parties had agreed upon earlier this week. The new proposal also included over $100 billion in aid for disaster relief in storm-affected states. At Trump's request, the drafted plan would suspend the debt ceiling and the amount of federal borrowing for two years during his next presidential term, but 38 Republican members of the House also rejected the proposal alongside Democrats. The current federal debt limit expires on January 1, 2025, and Trump wanted this issue resolved before he entered the White House on January 21. Following the rejection of the proposal in the House, Trump posted on the social media platform 'Social Truth' that Congress must rid itself of the 'ridiculous debt ceiling' or it might be extended until 2029. He also added, 'Without this, we will never agree, and we must pressure anyone who is President.' The Associated Press described the Thursday night voting in the House as rushed, with an outburst of anger over a 'self-made crisis.' According to this report, Republicans spent 24 hours in internal discussions to convince some of their dissenting colleagues to support the new proposal. The news agency also noted that Democrats were not in a hurry to appease Trump and Musk. In response to this incident, Elon Musk wrote on X that the responsibility for a potential government shutdown lies entirely with Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House. Jeffries called the rejected proposal 'ridiculous' and stated that Democrats want to pass the previous proposal that Republicans had also supported. Meanwhile, JD Vance, Trump's deputy who supported the new proposal, blamed Democrats for the potential government shutdown. Democratic representatives criticized Musk's interference in a proposal that had previously reached consensus between both parties, stating he is a billionaire unaware of the suffering of people going on unpaid leave. One Democratic representative sarcastically referred to Musk as 'President Musk' who wanted a new proposal. Chip Roy, a Republican representative from Texas who voted against the proposal, said it is 'shameful' that the authors of the proposal are indifferent to the accumulation of government debts. The rejection of this proposal came while Trump had posted on Thursday with the title 'Success in Washington,' stating that Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, and representatives had reached 'a very good agreement.' Trump implicitly warned that Johnson's continued leadership in the House depends on his 'decisive' performance in achieving an easy solution for this proposal. He also mentioned that Johnson and some Republican representatives who might oppose him would face 'trouble' in their next election. Karine Jean-Pierre, the spokesperson for the Democratic government based in the White House, stated that Joe Biden supports a bipartisan agreement to continue government operations, 'not the generosity of billionaires' that has been presented at the last minute. Although Republicans gained a majority of seats in both the House and Senate during last month's elections, the rejection of the proposal desired by Elon Musk and JD Vance in the House is already being viewed as a test for the political stability of Congress and its level of cooperation with the Trump administration. Federal government shutdowns have a history in the U.S. just before the New Year. Trump experienced the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history at the beginning of 2018, which lasted 35 days. Two years later, he ended the government shutdown in 2020, while the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning, with a bipartisan consensus.