Shutdown Fears Escalate as Trump Calls on Republicans to Reject CR

Donald Trump will not be sworn in as President until January 20, but his influence is already being felt as Congress tries to keep the government operating after Friday midnight. House Speaker Johnson’s weeks-long effort to craft a new Continuing Resolution that could garner enough Republican and Democratic votes to pass, released last night, is in jeopardy with Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and government efficiency commission co-chairs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy vigorously fighting against it. With the clock ticking to avoid a government shutdown, the road ahead is murky.

FY2025 began on October 1, 2024, but none of the 12 FY2025 appropriations bills have yet passed Congress. Government departments and agencies funded by those bills are operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) that expires on Friday, December 20, at midnight. If another appropriations bill isn’t passed by then, a partial government shutdown will ensue. The Anti-Deficiency Act prohibits departments and agencies from spending money they don’t have, so activities that require annual appropriations must be suspended unless they pose imminent threats to the safety of human life or the protection of property.

The longest shutdown to date, 35 days, was during Trump’s first term over the Christmas-New Year’s holidays from December 21, 2018 to January 25, 2019.

Until today, there appeared to be widespread bipartisan agreement to avoid another Christmas shutdown, but opposition to the deal crafted by Johnson (R-LA) and released last night has mushroomed. The 1,157-page bill would extend funding to March 14, 2025 and provide $110 billion for natural disaster recovery, $31 billion in economic assistance to farmers, and address many other Republican and Democratic priorities.

However, this morning Elon Musk as co-chair of Trump’s commission on government efficiency began posting messages — Politico counts more than 100 — on his social media platform X voicing his opposition and/or forwarding posts from others including his co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy urging Republicans to vote against it.

Ever seen a bigger piece of pork? pic.twitter.com/ZesFCNSNKp

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024

Later in the day, Trump and Vance themselves came out against the deal and upped the ante, calling on Congress to remove “Democrat giveaways,” but add a provision raising the debt limit.

Two years ago, House Republicans led by then Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) refused to raise the debt limit unless President Biden agreed to sharp reductions in federal spending for two years. The resulting Fiscal Responsibility Act suspended the debt limit until January 1, 2025, although the point at which the limit actually needs to be raised usually is several months after such a deadline.

That would punt the issue into Trump’s term, which begins on January 20. He and Vance want it to happen on Biden’s watch.

In a joint post on X, they said “The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed. … Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch.”  If Democrats object and risk a government shutdown, “CALL THEIR BLUFF.”

A statement from President Donald J. Trump and Vice President-Elect JD Vance:

The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed.…

— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 18, 2024

By late afternoon, with Republican opposition exploding, Johnson gave up on plans to bring the CR to the floor for a vote today — sidestepping a requirement that members have 72 hours to review legislation before voting on it — and is reconsidering the path forward.

Political brinksmanship on government funding is hardly new. More often than not agreement is reached at the last moment, but incoming presidents usually stay out of the fray. Trump’s involvement adds a wild card with just over 48 hours to go.

The House is scheduled to meet at 9:00 am ET tomorrow and “legislation related to government funding is expected” according to Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).

Since January, the House has been scheduled to wrap up its work for the year tomorrow and the Senate on Friday.  At this point, anything can happen. They could pass a one line CR that simply extends the existing deadline for a week or so and return after Christmas, but before the 118th Congress ends at noon on January 3.  Or they could punt this into the 119th Congress and deal with it between January 3 and January 20 when Trump takes office. Republicans will control both the House and Senate at that time. Or any of a number of other scenarios could play out, including a shutdown. Musk wants to stop any legislation from passing until Trump takes office.

No bills should be passed Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office.

None.

Zero.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024

But any of those options would delay financial assistance to farmers and hurricane victims waiting for their elected representatives to send them government support.

Trump and Vance didn’t take as drastic a stance as Musk, but their call to pass a CR that eliminates Democratic priorities and raise the debt limit would be a heavy lift to get passed with the close margins in the House (219 Republicans and 211 Democrats, with 5 vacancies) and Senate (51 Democrats including 4 Independents who caucus with them, and 49 Republicans).

Stay tuned to see what the House does tomorrow.  If they pass a bill, it still must get through the Senate where Vance will be one of the Senators deciding how to vote.