Congress is racing toward a shutdown at the end of the day Friday, and Republicans appear no closer to finding a path forward that will keep the lights on and appease President-elect Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest setback roiled the House on Thursday evening, when Democrats and a band of Republicans rejected a bill that paired a three-month government funding extension<\/u><\/a>, $110 billion in disaster and farm aid and other measures with a two-year suspension of the debt limit \u2014 the latter of which was a last-minute demand by Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That plan B was cobbled together after GOP lawmakers, Trump and Elon Musk torpedoed the first deal Speaker Mike Johnson\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-La.) negotiated with Democrats, with the influential Republicans criticizing the policy add-ons included \u2014 like a health care policy deal and cost of living raise for members of Congress \u2014 that ballooned the legislation to over 1,500 pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Johnson\u2019s first two proposals up in flames, Republicans are unsure where to turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s no plan,\u201d Rep. Ralph Norman\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-S.C.) said after the plan B vote failed, adding: \u201cTrump wants the thing to shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnson told reporters Thursday night, shortly after the failed vote, that Republicans would \u201cregroup\u201d and \u201ccome up with another solution,\u201d adding \u201cstay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Republicans, who are eager to stay on the incoming president\u2019s good side, and Johnson, trying to keep his grasp on the gavel come next year, are struggling to unify behind a plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s last-minute debt limit increase demand is opposed by many Republicans \u2014 38 of whom joined with Democrats to tank the plan B bill on Thursday. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Republicans are not currently planning to try to bring the bill up through a longer regular rule process, which would require near-unified GOP support for passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond the struggles in the House, any bill would have to not only pass the GOP-controlled House but get approval from Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, which are rejecting the last-minute GOP changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer\u2002<\/u><\/a>(D-N.Y.) kept his posture steady even following the vote, indicating he was in no mood for negotiating further after Johnson reneged on their original accord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good thing the bill failed in the House,\u201d Schumer told reporters. \u201cAnd now it\u2019s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senators voting on an unrelated bill across the Capitol complex as the latest stopgap measure was going up in smoke were unsure where negotiations will go from here with the clock ticking down toward a shutdown and a likely pre-Christmas weekend session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI guess it\u2019s back to the drawing board,\u201d Senate Minority Whip John Thune\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-S.D.) told The Hill as he exited the Capitol. \u201cWe\u2019ll see. We\u2019ll figure out in the House what they want to do next, and they\u2019ll digest this last effort and see what Plan B is.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have to be able to figure out a path forward,\u201d the incoming majority leader continued. \u201cWe\u2019re little over 24 hours away from a shutdown, so it\u2019s going to have to happen quickly, but we\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With little direction, members were throwing out ideas that could potentially stick. Sen. John Kennedy\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-La.) predicted a three-week \u201cclean\u201d continuing resolution without a hike in the debt limit could be the next course of action. He, however, acknowledged that he is \u201clabor, not management.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sen. Susan Collins\u2002<\/u><\/a>(Maine), the top Senate GOP appropriator, told reporters she would back a multi-week continuing resolution that would help get members through the holiday season, but conceded that she is unsure where negotiators will go next with the hourglass running out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what the plan is now,\u201d she said, adding that the inclusion of a debt ceiling increase \u201cseems to have aggravated the Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201dMy number one goal is to prevent a government shutdown,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The reaction was similar on the House side, where Republicans floated various ideas with no off-ramp in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rep. Thomas Massie\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Ky.), for example, told reporters after Thursday\u2019s failed vote that he pitched Johnson on splitting the stopgap package into four separate bills: A clean continuing resolution, disaster aid, the farm bill extension and the debt limit suspension, passing them under one procedural rule then voting on each one individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Massie said he pitched Johnson on the idea and that \u201cit wasn\u2019t rejected outright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s also unclear if Trump would support that. Massie said that Trump\u2019s team initially asked for a five-year extension of the debt limit, so it would not come up again during his presidential term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another idea brought up to Johnson was to add spending cuts to the bill to offset the unpaid disaster and farm aid spending, one source said, as a means of trying to woo hardline conservatives to support the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n