Stopgap Funding Bill Scrapped After Trump Opposes It

Elon Musk joined the debate earlier, urging lawmakers to reject the 1,547-page funding measure.

WASHINGTON—Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on Wednesday night the massive stopgap funding bill put forward by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was scrapped after President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance came out in opposition to the bill.

“There is no new agreement right now,” Scalise told reporters, and lawmakers are “looking at a number of options.”

Johnson and congressional leadership on Dec. 17 released the $100 billion legislation that would keep the government open until March 14—called a continuing resolution (CR) in Washington-speak, hedging off a shutdown set to begin on Saturday at 12 a.m. ET. The proposal also incorporates a series of more controversial funding measures related to health, agriculture, emergency aid, and many others.

A joint statement by Trump and Vance stated that the 1,547-page proposal “would give sweetheart provisions for government censors.”

“The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee—which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas,” the statement reads.

The joint statement includes an ultimatum for Republicans, calling on them to use the opportunity to raise the debt ceiling now rather than pushing the issue off until next year, when the current debt ceiling is expected to run out.

Democrats have historically been more likely to support debt ceiling increases, which are deeply unpopular with Republicans. If the issue is left until the next Congress, when Republicans will have a majority in both chambers, it could give Democrats leverage to force concessions from the Trump administration.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump also emphasized his opposition to replacing the current funding package with a “clean” CR, saying that such a CR “will be so destructive to our country.”

“All it will do … is bring the mess of the Debt Limit into the Trump Administration, rather than allowing it to take place in the Biden Administration. Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” he wrote.

That creates a series of new headaches for Johnson and other congressional leaders, as lawmakers hoped to get government funding dealt with quickly before the upcoming winter recess, set to stretch through all of next week.

Compounding the difficulties, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has taken a hard stance against replacing the original agreement.

“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government,” Jeffries said in a post on X. “You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow.”

By Joseph Lord and Arjun Singh

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