WASHINGTON—In an attempt to prevent a government shutdown over the holidays, Congress reached a last-minute agreement, but in the process, it added more tasks to the already long list of things that need to be done in the first year of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office.
The government remains operational until March 14th, according to the funding bill. Republicans will once more require Democratic votes to prevent a shutdown in less than three months, despite the fact that they will control the White House, the House, and the Senate.
Furthermore, Trump’s request that Congress either raise or remove the debt ceiling in order to relieve him of it the following year was a complete failure. He promised to fight any Republican who voted to fund the government without addressing the debt limit in the electoral primary on Wednesday. In defiance of him, 170 House Republicans did precisely that on Friday.
The week’s unrest serves as a taste of the legislative mayhem that Washington will see during the second Trump administration, when the new president will have to deal with a number of significant deadlines and goals.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., stated that Republicans should have supported a stopgap bill through the end of next September to clear their plate for Trump’s agenda, rather than pushing funding to March 14.
Regarding the new deadline, he added, “I think it’s kind of stupid.” Don’t expect me to defend or explain this dysfunction.
Late Friday, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., stated that the lesson learned over the past several days is that our strength is in our unity. The adversary of the conservative cause is division.
In order to prevent such a scenario in the future, he counseled Trump and his team to make legislative requests early on so that the GOP may voice any disagreements well in advance of a deadline.
Barr stated that there should be more communication between the House’s different factions. Both the House and the Senate must interact excessively with the administration, and the House must communicate excessively with [incoming Senate] Majority Leader [John] Thune.
The communication was very bad during the past four days. Trump and his billionaire confidant Elon Musk broke apart the first bipartisan agreement that Speaker Mike Johnson had announced the day before. After rejecting Trump’s most important and last-minute demand, the speaker finally succeeded in preventing a shutdown after going through three more modifications of his plan.
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who is up for reelection in 2026, expressed worry. It goes without saying that for the past two years, we have witnessed this type of pandemonium. I therefore completely anticipate that this will continue over the next two years and most likely worsen.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., downplayed what he described as a fragmented process on Thursday night, claiming that it’s a natural way for Trump’s administration and House Republicans to learn how to interact with one another.
It will be fantastic. Do you know why it will be fantastic? Just before Speaker Johnson’s Plan B was destroyed in the House, Van Orden observed, “Because we now know how to work together.”
Sen. Johnson, a fellow Wisconsinian, was less optimistic about the 2025 agenda’s early stages going smoothly than Van Orden.
Without a doubt, we have a huge disaster on our hands, Johnson stated. I’m attempting to underpromise and, hopefully, overdeliver because of this.
Trump and Republicans want to pass major party-line bills to strengthen immigration enforcement and extend his expiring 2017 tax law, but they also need to confirm his personnel through the Senate, deal with a debt limit that must be addressed by mid-2025 to prevent a catastrophic default, and another government funding deadline.
When asked what Congress will have to do next year, Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, deadpanned, “It’s not going to be boring.”
Additionally, Musk’s involvement in thwarting the initial bipartisan funding agreement aroused eyebrows on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., stated that a billionaire threatening people if they don’t vote the proper way genuinely disturbs many people on both sides of the aisle.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., stated following the House vote that the turmoil of the last week “foretells something very ominous about next year,” pointing out that the Republican majority in the lower house will be even smaller the following year.
Given Trump’s advocacy of instability, confusion, and disruption, I believe there will be a lot of upheaval on the Republican side of the House,” Connolly stated.
It took 15 rounds of voting to elect a speaker at the start of the previous Congress, and some hard-right Republicans are hesitant to support Speaker Johnson after his handling of the shutdown threat this week. He also questioned whether Republicans would be able to elect a speaker on January 3 with a razor-thin majority.
Connolly stated, “I leave very unsettled tonight in terms of what we just experienced,” prior to the House’s holiday adjournment. It strikes me as portentous and really ominous.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!