by Sharon Rondeau
(Dec. 18, 2024) — Almost 24 hours after Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives reached a tentative agreement on a spending bill to continue funding the federal government beyond midnight Friday, President-Elect Donald J. Trump and Vice-President-Elect J.D. Vance issued a statement on TruthSocial urging House Republicans to pass a basic funding bill raising the debt ceiling but excluding “Democrat giveaways.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) had advocated passing a 1,547-page bill Democrats favor and to which Trump and Vance object for “setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the America First agenda.”
“That’s what we’re going to run with gusto beginning January 3rd when we start the new Congress when Republicans, again, are in control,” Johnson said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning.
“Even with this week’s tight timeline, lawmakers are expected to thwart the threat of a shutdown, with little appetite in Washington for a funding lapse,” CBS News reported Tuesday night.
The bill contains changes to the Medicaid program and “reauthorization of child welfare programs,” (p. 387), among numerous other proposals, including changes to existing laws.
Multiple news reports took notice of Trump’s post as well as those issued by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who along with entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will officially lead the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) after Trump takes office at noon on January 20.
On Tuesday night, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer commented he was “pleased these negotiations led to a bipartisan government funding agreement free of cuts and poison pills, while also securing Democratic priorities like millions for child care, workforce training and job placement, assistance for the Key Bridge rebuild, additional disaster relief funding and more.”
At approximately 6:05 p.m. EST Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made a brief statement on camera expressing his belief that responsibility for the looming government shutdown and the presumed “harm” it will do to Americans will fall on Republicans.
According to The Hill, citing Politico‘s report issued Friday at 3:22 p.m., a “clean” continuing resolution has been written as a “Plan ‘B'” should the more expansive measure fail.
“It remains unclear if Johnson will ultimately pull his spending package and put the ‘clean’ continuing resolution on the floor,” The Hill wrote. “The Speaker has not yet scheduled a vote on the stopgap…If Johnson does pull the negotiated spending package, however, an alternative is not guaranteed to clear the lower chamber.”
“The Louisiana Republican is discussing dropping $100 billion in disaster aid plus other attachments and instead passing a ‘clean CR’ — then dealing with the other issues in the new year, according to two Republicans with knowledge of the conversations,” Politico reported. In addition to disaster aid, that would mean dropping $30 billion for farmers, and a one-year extension of the farm bill, among other items, at least for now.”
For his part, Musk posted on “X,” which he owns and was formerly known as “Twitter,” asking followers, “Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?”
According to Fox News producer Chad Pergram contemporaneous with Trump and Vance’s statement, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY6) reported his constituents took note of Musk and Ramaswamy’s comments on “X,” demonstrating “the influence that president, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy [sic] have in this process before they’re even in office…”
Consequently, Barr wrote, a “skinny CR” he said contains “100 pages” is the solution.
Any continuing resolution passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by Joe Biden would fund the government through March 14, 2025.
At approximately 6:30 p.m., Trump followed up on his initial statement with, “Unless the Democrats terminate or substantially extend Debt Ceiling now, I will fight ’till the end. This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical left Democrats!…”
Sounds like the ridiculous and extraordinarily expensive Continuing Resolution, PLUS, is dying fast, but can anyone imagine passing it without either terminating, or extending, the Debt Ceiling guillotine coming up in June? Unless the Democrats terminate or substantially extend Debt Ceiling now, I will fight ‘till the end. This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical Left Democrats! They are looking to embarrass us in June when it comes up for a Vote. The people that extended it, from September 28th to June 1st, should be ashamed of themselves. It was political malpractice! Also, the Communist Global Engagement Center, a project of Crooked Hillary Clinton, should not in any way, shape, or form be extended and, the shielding of the very corrupt J6 Unselect Committee of Political Losers and Thugs would be suicidal for any Republican approving it. Likewise, this is not a good time for Congress to be asking for pay increases. Hopefully, you’ll be entitled to such an increase in the near future when we, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
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