Trump attacks the government financing agreement in the House of Representatives and demands raising the debt ceiling

Washington – President-elect Donald Trump He said Thursday that he would rather House Republicans refuse to fund the federal government than support a funding bill that does not contain an increase in the debt ceiling.

“Republican obstructionists must be eliminated,” Trump said. to publish, In reference to Republican members of the House of Representatives who refuse to support the debt ceiling increase that Trump wants. He singled out Texas Rep. Chip Roy, accusing him of “standing in the way of another great Republican victory, as usual.”

“Our country would be much better off shutting down for a while than agreeing to the things the Democrats want to force on us,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social.

House Republican leaders were running out of time Thursday to avoid a partial government shutdown that begins late Friday night Trump His allies signed a compromise bill to fund the government until March.

Senior party members spent much of Thursday in and out of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s offices at the Capitol, where talks centered on finding a way to keep the federal government open while meeting Trump’s last-minute demand to scrap any agreement to fund the government. The government also raised the debt ceiling.

However, even if House Republicans can settle on funding language that would appease Trump and the warring factions in the GOP caucus, any bill they pass would still need to be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate before President Joe Biden signs it into law. .

Meanwhile, outside of leadership talks, members of the House and Senate were increasingly nervous that Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, would fail to find a way forward in time to avoid the potential furlough of tens of thousands of federal employees across the country. Who could have their pay delayed by less than a week before Christmas.

“A shutdown doesn’t solve anything. It doesn’t save us money. It just creates unnecessary chaos,” Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

“For anything to pass, it needs bipartisan support,” he added. “You will need Democrats, at a minimum, in the Senate, but very likely in the House, to support a continuing resolution,” he said.

Thursday’s tension came after the public collapse on Wednesday of a massive negotiated funding bill that needed Democratic votes to pass the narrowly divided House.

Trump Official opposition The bill came late Wednesday only after a major Republican billionaire donor Elon Musk They spent the day opposing the bill, making it politically impossible for most members of the House Republican Conference to support it.

“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we would rather do it under Biden’s supervision,” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday announcing his opposition to Johnson’s original bill.

“If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, why does anyone think they will in June during our administration? Let’s have this discussion now. We must pass a simplified spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the GOP a chance to reach a solution.” “Democrats whatever they want,” Trump said.

The debt ceiling has become a recurring bitter debate in Washington every few years, one that Trump is keen to avoid during the start of his second term in office.

But his demands and the impasse he reached on Thursday may be too much for Johnson, who now faces a potential threat to his presidency, which is due to be voted on early next year.