WASHINGTON – Congress reached a last-minute deal to avoid a government shutdown over the holidays, but in the process lengthened an already extensive to-do list for President-elect Donald Trump's first year back in office.
The funding bill keeps the government open until March 14. Although Republicans will control the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate, they will again need Democratic votes to stop a shutdown in less than three months.
Additionally, Trump's demand that Congress extend or abolish the debt ceiling to get it off his back next year failed dramatically. On Wednesday, he threatened to challenge the primary election against “any Republican” who voted to fund the government without addressing the debt limit. On Friday, 170 House Republicans defied him and did just that.
The week's turmoil foreshadows the legislative chaos that awaits Washington in the second Trump administration, as the incoming president faces a wide range of major deadlines and ambitions.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Republicans made a mistake by delaying funding until March 14 and instead should have passed a stopgap bill through the end of next September to clear their agenda plate. of Trump.
“I think it's a little stupid,” he said of the new deadline. “Don't ask me to explain or defend this dysfunction.”
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said Friday night that the “lesson” of the past few days is: “Unity is our strength. Disunity is the enemy of the conservative cause.”
He advised Trump and his team to avoid such a situation in the future by filing legislative demands “early” so that the Republican Party can “air out any differences there are” well before the deadline.
“The House needs to over-communicate within our various factions,” Barr said. “The House needs to communicate excessively with [incoming Senate] Majority Leader [John] Thune, the House and Senate need to over-communicate with the administration.”
In the last four days, communication was particularly poor. A day after President Mike Johnson released an initial bipartisan agreement, Trump and his billionaire confidant Elon Musk blew it up. The speaker went through three additional iterations of his plan to avoid a shutdown, ultimately succeeding after rejecting Trump's most consequential (and last-minute) demand.
“I'm concerned,” said Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who faces re-election in 2026. “Obviously, we've seen this kind of chaos over the last two years. So I would fully expect us to do it.” “We will see this continue over the next two years and probably get even worse.”
On Thursday night, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., downplayed what he called a “disjointed process,” saying it's a natural way for House Republicans and Trump's team to understand “how to communicate with each other.” “.
“It's going to be amazing. You know why it's going to be amazing? Because now we know how to work together,” Van Orden said just before President Johnson's Plan B caught fire in the House.
Senator Johnson, Van Orden's colleague in Wisconsin, was less optimistic about moving forward smoothly on the first part of the 2025 agenda.
“There's no doubt we have a big mess on our hands,” Johnson said. “That's why I'm trying to under-promise and hopefully over-deliver.”
In addition to another government funding deadline and a debt limit that must be addressed by mid-2025 to avoid a calamitous default, Trump and Republicans need to confirm his staff through the Senate, and want to pass important partisan bills. to strengthen immigration enforcement and extend its expiring 2017 tax law.
“It's not going to be boring,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, deadpanned when asked about the tasks facing Congress next year.
There's also the question of Musk's role after his role in scuttling the original bipartisan funding deal raised hackles across Capitol Hill.
“Many people in both parties are deeply disturbed by a billionaire who threatens people if they don't vote the right way,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
The tumult of the past week “predicts something very sinister for next year,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said after the House vote, noting that the Republican majority in the House will be even smaller next year. .
“I think we're in for a lot of turbulence on the Republican side of the House because of the instability, chaos and disruption that Trump embraces,” Connolly said.
He also questioned whether Republicans will be able to elect a president on January 3 with a bare majority; It took 15 rounds of voting to elect a president at the start of the last Congress, and some far-right Republicans are hesitant about President Johnson after his handling of the shutdown threat this week.
“So I come away very unsettled tonight in terms of what we just experienced,” Connolly said before the House adjourned for the holidays. “I think it's very sinister and portentous.”
