Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, experienced a "very rapid" decline since moving into a retirement facility, her son said, after it was discovered over the weekend that the congresswoman had been absent from her duties in the Capitol for nearly six months.
Brandon Granger told the New York Post that his mother made the decision to move into the retirement community on her own, though she has since shown signs of dementia over the past three months.
The 81-year-old congresswoman, who did not seek re-election and is retiring at the end of this congressional term, has largely remained absent from the Capitol in recent months, having last cast votes on July 24. She was not present for over 54% of votes this year.
Granger’s absence was first reported by the Dallas Express on Friday in a piece that quoted a constituent of her district who said that Granger was residing in a memory care facility in Texas.
A source in Granger’s office spoke to Fox News on Sunday, denying that the congresswoman was in the facility’s memory care unit. The source said Granger was residing in the retirement facility where memory care is provided, though not in the memory care unit itself.
Brandon Granger excoriated the reports that said his mother was in the memory care unit after she was found wandering as "a load of bulls–t."
"They have a memory care facility there, but she’s in [an] independent living facility," Brandon Granger told The Post. "It’s a nice condo. I helped her move in."
Brandon Granger added that his mother’s decline has been "very rapid and very difficult," though he did not say whether she had received treatment at the memory facility, the Post reported.
Granger released a statement Sunday saying that she has faced "health challenges" and is "deeply grateful for the outpouring of care and concern" over the weekend.
"As many of my family, friends, and colleagues have known, I have been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year," Granger said in the statement. "However, since early September, my health challenges have progressed making frequent travel to Washington both difficult and unpredictable. During this time, my incredible staff has remained steadfast, continuing to deliver exceptional constituent services, as they have for the past 27 years."
While Granger appears to not have cast a vote since July, she did return to the Capitol in November for the unveiling of her portrait as Appropriations Committee Chairwoman, and a reception that followed. House Speaker Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., were both present at the event.
Granger has served in the House since 1997. She previously served as the first female mayor of Fort Worth, Texas.
Republican congressman-elect Craig Goldman will succeed Granger in January.
Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, has been living in a retirement facility, a source told Fox News on Sunday. The source also denied a local news report that said she was in a memory care facility.
Granger, who is retiring at the end of this congressional term, has largely remained absent from the Capitol in recent months, having last cast votes on July 24. She was not present for over 54% of votes this year.
The Dallas Express investigated the 81-year-old congresswoman's absence, publishing a report on Friday that quoted a constituent of her district who said that Granger was residing in a memory care facility in Texas. The report was later picked up by other news outlets.
Fox News spoke with a source from Granger's office who denied that Granger was in a memory care unit. The source told Fox News that Granger is in a retirement facility where memory care is provided, though not in the memory care unit itself.
Granger released a statement to Fox News, saying that she has faced "health challenges" and is "deeply grateful for the outpouring of care and concern" over the weekend.
"As many of my family, friends, and colleagues have known, I have been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year," Granger said in the statement. "However, since early September, my health challenges have progressed making frequent travel to Washington both difficult and unpredictable. During this time, my incredible staff has remained steadfast, continuing to deliver exceptional constituent services, as they have for the past 27 years."
Granger, who did not seek re-election for the coming term, has served in the House since 1997. She previously served as the first female mayor of Fort Worth, Texas.
While Granger appears to not have cast a vote since July, she did return to the Capitol in November for the unveiling of her portrait as Appropriations Committee Chairwoman, and a reception that followed. House Speaker Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., both spoke at the event.
One senior Republican source told Fox News that Granger did not step down earlier due to the paper-thin GOP House majority.
"Frankly, we needed the numbers," the source told Fox News.
The slim majority presents a challenge for the speaker of the 119th Congress, in which vote attendance could be the difference between success or defeat for Republicans.
Fox News reached out to Johnson's office for comment.
Granger’s long absence was blasted by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., in a post on X.
"Kay Granger's long absence reveals the problem with a Congress that rewards seniority & relationships more than merit & ideas," he wrote. "We have a sclerotic gerontocracy. We need term limits. We need to get big money out of politics so a new generation of Americans can run and serve."
Khanna was one of the few lawmakers who previously criticized what he referred to as the "gerontocracy." In May 2023, he called on Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was then aged 89, to step down as her own health issues kept her away from the Capitol. Feinstein died months later in September 2023.
"Rockin' around the Christmas tree At the Christmas party hop" – Brenda Lee
It’s a yuletide tradition on Capitol Hill.
An annual custom of rockin’ around a congressional Christmas tree, festooned with hundreds of legislative ornaments, Advent appropriations and mistletoe modifications.
A political Polar Express chugs through the halls of Congress nearly every December. It’s always the last piece of legislation huffing out of the congressional station.
"It's another cram down," fumed Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, the morning after congressional leaders released the bill. "Here's what you get. ‘Do this or shut the government down.’ So, it's very disappointing."
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., didn’t gift wrap his criticism.
"It's a total dumpster fire. I think it's garbage," decreed Burlison. "It's shameful that people celebrate DOGE coming, and yet we're going to vote for another billion dollars to be added to the deficit. It's ironic."
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., mocked his colleagues for talking out of both sides of their mouths when it came to spending.
"We keep on saying we want to take the deficit and the debt seriously. But we keep on voting to increase it. You can't have it both ways," he said. "This is irresponsible."
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, lamented this was business as usual.
"I mean, the swamp is going to swamp, right?" proffered Roy.
"We have broken the Christmas omni. I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition. There won’t be a Christmas omnibus," Johnson declared Sept. 24. "We won’t do any ‘buses.’"
So, yours truly pressed Johnson about his promise after frustrated Republicans upbraided him during a House GOP Conference meeting.
"You said back in September there would be no more Christmas omnibuses. You were not doing anymore ‘buses,’" I asked. "But how is this not yet another Christmas tree at the holidays?"
"Well, it's not a Christmas tree. It's not an omnibus," responded Johnson.
Johnson is technically right. In appropriations parlance, it’s not a true omnibus — even though outside observers and many lawmakers themselves might colloquially refer to the massive bill as an "omnibus." An omnibus is where Congress gift wraps all 12 individual spending measures into one package. A "minibus" is where a handful of bills are bundled together.
Even so, I reminded Johnson of the opprobrium directed at this legislation.
"They called this cram down. They said it was garbage. Those are your own members calling it that," I noted.
"Well, they haven't even seen it yet," said Johnson, even though the bill materialized the night before. "I’ve got a couple of friends who will say that about any end-of-year funding measure. This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR (continuing resolution) that we've had to add things to that were out of our control."
The legislation was stocked with a hefty price tag to cover the entire cost of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. A radioactive pay raise for lawmakers. Health care provisions. Language about concert ticket prices. Emergency aid for farmers. And $110 billion to help cover devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
"It was intended to be, and it was until recent days, a very simple, very clean CR stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have a unified government," said Johnson. "But a couple of intervening things have occurred. We had, as we say, acts of God. We had these massive hurricanes."
But then Elon Musk torched the bill. President-elect Trump demanded an immediate debt ceiling increase. Debt limit deals are one of the most complex and contentious issues in Congress. They require weeks if not months of painstaking negotiations.
This wasn’t as simple as presenting Santa at the mall a wish list of items for Christmas morning.
The bill began bleeding support just hours before the House planned a vote.
But to paraphrase Charles Dickens’ opening line in "A Christmas Carol" about Jacob Marley, "That bill was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that."
Democrats were flabbergasted at outside last-minute ultimatums. Especially since Johnson attended the Army-Navy football game last week with Trump. How could they not have discussed the contours of this bill?
"It was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., scoffed about the bill. "So, who is our leader, (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., supposed to negotiate with? Is it Mike Johnson? Is he the speaker of the House? Or is it Donald Trump? Or is it Elon Musk. Or is it somebody else?"
Johnson and company then prepped a svelte 116-page bill to fund the government. But bipartisan lawmakers roasted that measure faster than chestnuts by an open fire.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., mocked Republicans for insisting that they adhere to their internal "three-day rule." That allows lawmakers to ponder bills for three days before a vote. Yet Republicans were now racing the new bill to the floor faster than shoppers rushing home with their treasures.
"Have you printed it? How many pages is it? What happened to the 72-hour rule?" mocked Moskowitz.
The bill plummeted to an embarrassing defeat on the House floor. It only scored 174 yeas, punctuated by an eye-popping 38 Republican nays.
"The Democrats just voted to shut down the government," Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the vice president-elect, claimed. "They've asked for a shutdown, and I think that's exactly what they're going to get."
By Friday, there was a third bill. And despite grousing, lawmakers finally passed the legislation. There was no need to go to "Plan Z," popularized in "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie." The House approved the bill in the early evening. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hit the Senate floor late Friday night.
"Democrats and Republicans have just reached an agreement that will allow us to pass the CR tonight before the midnight deadline," said Schumer.
Critics of the third bill might characterize the entire process as a "railroad." But it was an actual railroad that prevented the Senate from passing the bill on time. An unnamed Republican senator placed a hold on nominees to Amtrak's board. But once senators resolved that problem, the Senate finally aligned with the House to prevent the shutdown around 12:45 a.m. ET Saturday, 45 minutes after the midnight deadline.
The slenderized bill included disaster aid and emergency assistance for farmers. But when it came to appropriations, the legislation simply renewed all current funding at present levels. It was definitely not a "Christmas tree." It just kept the government running through March 14. So no holiday crisis.
As the dust settles on Congress frantically passing a stopgap bill at the eleventh hour to avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers are having their say on a chaotic week on Capitol Hill.
President Biden signed the 118-page bill into law on Saturday, extending government funding into March, the White House announced. The bill provides over $100 billion in disaster aid for those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the U.S. Southeast earlier this year. It also includes a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers.
President Biden has not yet publicly commented on the passage of the legislation, nor has President-elect Trump, although sources tell Fox that the incoming president is not that happy about the bill, because it does not suspend the debt ceiling.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his handling of the negotiations, said after the House vote that the result was "a good outcome for the country." He said he had spoken with Trump and that the president-elect "was certainly happy about this outcome, as well."
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., considered the legislation a win for his party.
"The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation," Jeffries said, referring to Trump’s "Make America Great Again" slogan.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., praised Democrats, including Jeffries and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., for "their unity and courage withstanding the Trump-Musk irresponsibility."
"Democrats will always fight to protect the needs of America’s working families, veterans, seniors, farmers and first responders against the GOP’s agenda for billionaires and special interests."
A bulging 1,547-page continuing resolution was thrown into disarray earlier in the week following objections by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. A slimmed-down version was then rejected by House members on Thursday before the House approved Speaker Mike Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly on Friday by 366 votes to 34.
The Senate worked into early Saturday morning to pass the bill 85-11, just after the deadline.
"There will be no government shutdown right before Christmas," Schumer wrote on X. "We will keep the government open with a bipartisan bill that funds the government, helps Americans affected by hurricanes and natural disasters, helps our farmers and avoids harmful cuts."
Meanwhile, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said the revised funding package keeps government funded at current levels, delivers aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters and protects agricultural supply chains.
"Not only is this straightforward bill much more palatable to me, but it respects the taxpayers we represent, unlike the previous backroom boondoggle I opposed that was over 1,500 pages long and gave unnecessary and costly giveaways to the Democrats," Malliotakis wrote on X.
"Passing this legislation today gives us what we need until President Trump is sworn in and settled so our Republican trifecta can deliver the results the American people voted for."
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., questioned why President Biden appeared to play a limited role in negotiations.
"People fail to recognize that even though the focus has been on President Trump, Joe Biden is actually still the president, which is really mind-boggling, because nobody's heard from him in weeks," Lawler told Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday, adding that the debt ceiling has been used as a "political piñata for decades."
"The party in the minority uses it as leverage in a negotiation, and I think what President Trump is trying to avoid is giving Democrats a loaded gun to hold to his head here."
Elsewhere, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., applauded the Senate for approving the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act, which he had introduced and helped pass in the House.
The bill would give the District of Columbia control of the 174-acre RFK campus and revive potential plans for a new Washington Commanders stadium.
The surprising move came after a provision in the initial continuing resolution (CR) -- to transfer control of the RFK campus from the federal government to the District -- was eliminated from Thursday's slimmed down version of the bill.
"The Senate’s passage of the D.C. RFK Stadium Campus Revitalization Act is a historic moment for our nation’s capital. If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain," Comer said.
"Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city, and I am proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this bill across the finish line and to the President’s desk. This bipartisan success is a testament to the House Oversight Committee’s unwavering effort to protect taxpayers and our full commitment to ensuring a capital that is prosperous for residents and visitors for generations to come," he added.
Newly elected GOP Congressman Derek Schmidt told Fox News Digital that the efforts of DOGE will be critical in the next Congress and explained why he is optimistic that Republicans will be on the same page in January to push through President-elect Trump’s agenda.
"It's no more business as usual," Schmidt, elected in November to represent Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District, told Fox News about the impact of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as the two lobbied against a 1,500 page continuing resolution that was being debated in the House and opposed by some conservatives for containing too much "pork."
"Look, that was the top-line message from the voters last November. They want us to make progress on some of these issues, and we're not going to make progress by continuing to do the same things and expecting a different result. So, you know, it's going to be messy. It's going to be tumultuous, but that's what it takes in order to get this country back on track."
Schmidt told Fox News Digital that DOGE reforms are part of what Trump ran on.
"That's what President Trump promised. That's what many of us ran on. And that's what I at least intend to be part of accomplishing," Schmidt said.
"So anything that helps put the genie back in the bottle, that helps move us back in the direction of this, you know, this federal system, this remarkable system of self-government that our founders gave us and that we have drifted so far from, especially since the New Deal, I think is something I want to be part of trying to help fix. I want to leave this country better for my kids than I found it, and that will not be true if we don't start getting a handle on runaway federal spending. And on this, the sprawling, grotesque federal bureaucracy that is unaccountable to voters."
Despite a net loss of two seats in the 435-member House in November, Republicans will hold a fragile 220-215 majority when the new Congress convenes next month giving them a razor-thin margin for error when attempting to advance Trump’s agenda.
Schmidt told Fox News Digital that he expects some "dissension" in the next Congress, which he called "the nature of Democratic self-government" but says he feels confident Republicans will unite on the big issues.
"I think we're going to get the president's agenda adopted, look, I think a couple of things are true. One, to the extent that I've met my fellow incoming class members in the House and to the extent I've talked with current House members, there seems to be a broad sense that everybody knows we've got to deliver," Schmidt, who served as Kansas attorney general for over a decade, said.
"We have this trifecta, so-called, that the voters have given us. They've trusted us to do what we said we're going to do, and everybody, even though they may have different perspective disagreements, understands we've got to deliver, and that means we've got to find ways to hang together."
Schmidt continued, "Number two. What's different now from, you know, a few times in the past when things have lined up is we have a strong Republican president. President Trump pulled no punches. He was very clear on the campaign trail the direction he wants to take the country, the types of policies that he wants enacted, and the voters approve that, not with just a win in the Electoral College, not with just a win for him in the popular vote, but also with the trifecta to help deliver that so we don't have to figure out what the agenda is. We have to listen to what the voters said by electing President Trump, what he articulated on the voter's behalf. And we have to step up, hang together and deliver results."
After winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote, Schmidt told Fox News Digital it is clear that Trump has a "mandate" from the American people and that House Republicans understand that a deadlock in Congress won't be something the voters are content with.
"I think the voters knew what they were choosing, and they made that decision and I also think it's very important, you know, to keep in line what I believe was the top line message, which is do something, make progress on these issues," Schmidt said.
"If we don't like as the electorate, if we don't like what you've done, will judge that two years, four years, six years down the road. But do something. This sort of deadlock of accomplishing very little is an unacceptable way to lead the greatest nation on earth. And so I think that sense is pretty widely accepted among at least most of us who are entered into public office, and we've got a spirit of let's get together and act."
Fox News Digital asked Schmidt what he is most looking forward to when serving in Congress, and he outlined his excitement about taking part in what he called the "extraordinary experiment" of American governance.
"I don't I don't mean to sound like Mr. Smith goes to Washington, but there is a certain element of truth in the idea that each of us who is allowed to represent a group of Americans has an opportunity to be part of this extraordinary experiment in self-government that is still going despite all of its warts and imperfections," Schmidt said.
"A lot of people who came before us paid great price at great personal expense to build this country into what it is today. We have an opportunity, those of us serving, myself included, to be part of rewriting or writing the next chapter in the American story. And I get excited about that every single morning. Whatever my service in public office ends, whether it's in two years, ten years or somewhere down the road, I want to be able to look back and say, I made a difference. I left America better than I found it. And so few people have that opportunity and a direct way. I will never lose sight of what I've been entrusted with."
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
The White House has announced that President Biden signed a stopgap funding bill into law on Saturday, extending government funding into March and avoiding a shutdown.
The bill provides over $100 billion in disaster aid for those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the U.S. Southeast earlier this year. There was also a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers in the bill.
The Senate worked into early Saturday morning to pass the bill 85-11, just after the deadline following a chaotic week on Capitol Hill.
President Biden has not yet publicly commented on the passage of the legislation.
"H.R. 10545, the ‘American Relief Act, 2025,’ which provides fiscal year 2025 appropriations to Federal agencies through March 14, 2025, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government; provides disaster relief appropriations and economic assistance to farmers; extends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018; and extends several expiring authorities," a White House statement reads.
President-elect Trump has not spoken publicly since the bill’s passage either, although sources tell Fox that the incoming president is not that happy about the bill because it does not suspend the debt ceiling.
Trump had called on Republicans to act on the debt limit as part of their talks to avert a government shutdown, a demand that dozens of conservative GOP lawmakers bristled at given their concerns about the national debt — which has exceeded $36 trillion.
A bulging 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR) was thrown into disarray earlier in the week following objections by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. A slimmed-down version was then rejected by House members on Thursday before the House approved Speaker Mike Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly by 366 votes to 34 on Friday.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre warned on Friday that a shutdown could have disrupted the incoming administration's presidential transition process.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the passage of the funding legislation early Saturday.
"There will be no government shutdown right before Christmas," Schumer wrote on X. "We will keep the government open with a bipartisan bill that funds the government, helps Americans affected by hurricanes and natural disasters, helps our farmers and avoids harmful cuts.
Fox News' Julia Johnson and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
House lawmakers voted Friday to approve a newly negotiated spending bill that included many of the same components of the earlier legislation — but without the debt limit provision that had sparked consternation among many in the party.
Republican leaders shared the text late Friday, shortly before lawmakers approved the spending legislation, 366-34.
Lawmakers were scrambling for a path forward after an initial bill was tanked by President-elect Trump and his allies on Wednesday, and a later bill approved by Trump failed on the House floor Thursday.
The bill, unlike the version rejected Thursday night, removes a debt limit extension sought by President-elect Donald Trump, which would have included a two-year suspension of the debt limit.
That version failed to garner support among Democrats, who were more broadly opposed to the idea, and from fiscal conservatives within the Republican Party.
The new legislation includes provisions such as $10 billion in aid to farmers and agriculture subsidies included in the earlier version of the bill — which were considered must-pass provisions by many lawmakers.
It also includes $100 billion in disaster aid for U.S. residents, including victims of devastating hurricanes in some U.S. states.
"We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for making sure that military and essential services, and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters before Friday's vote.
Over 30 House Republicans voted Friday against a bill to avert a partial government shutdown.
Lawmakers scrambled to reach consensus on a spending package ahead of the looming partial government shutdown deadline Friday. An initial 1,547-page bipartisan deal that would have extended the government funding deadline until March 14 was released Tuesday night, but the proposal crumbled after Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy criticized the spending bill.
A more condensed, Trump-backed version was brought to the floor Thursday night but failed to pass.
In a last-minute vote Friday, the House succeeded in passing a funding bill with 34 Republicans voting against the legislation and zero Democrats voting against it. One Democrat, Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, voted present.
Among those who voted against the bill was Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who told Fox News Digital, "I don't know why we're giving Joe Biden $100 billion to play with in 30 days.
"Oddly enough, it didn't have what Trump wanted most of all."
The House has passed a bill to avert a partial government shutdown on Friday, hours before the midnight federal funding deadline.
The bill, which needed approval from two-thirds of the chamber, passed overwhelmingly in a 366 to 34 vote.
All Democrats voted for the bill save for Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who voted "present."
Lawmakers were scrambling for a path forward after an initial bill was tanked by President-elect Trump and his allies on Wednesday, and a later bill approved by Trump failed on the House floor Thursday.
But Trump has stayed noticeably silent on this latest measure – which many House Republicans saw as a tacit sign of approval.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was optimistic after days of uncertainty, telling reporters there would be a House-wide vote Friday when leaving a closed-door House GOP meeting where leaders presented their plan.
"We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays," Johnson said.
Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed past $36 trillion, and the deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
The legislation, if passed in the Senate, would extend current government funding levels through mid-March, a measure known as a continuing resolution (CR), paired with just over $100 billion in disaster relief aid for victims of storms Helene and Milton, as well as assistance for the agriculture industry.
Johnson bypassed regular House procedures to get the legislation straight to a chamber-wide vote, a maneuver known as "suspension of the rules."
In exchange for the fast track, however, the threshold for passage was raised from a simple majority to two-thirds of the House chamber, meaning Democratic support is critical.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told reporters he believed Johnson struck an agreement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. A longtime Johnson critic, Massie said he would not vote for the bill.
"Trump wanted a debt limit increase, and now we're bringing the exact same bill to the floor without the debt limit increase," Massie said.
Another Republican lawmaker argued Johnson would not move forward without Trump's blessing.
"We wouldn't do it if they weren't," Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said when asked if Trump and Elon Musk were supportive of the deal.
Trump and Musk led the conservative rebellion against the initial plan to avert a partial shutdown, a bipartisan deal that came from negotiations between the top two Democrats and Republicans in both Congressional chambers.
That bill, 1,547 pages, would have extended current government funding levels until March 14. However, GOP hardliners were angered by what they saw as unrelated measures attached to the bill, like a pay raise for congressional lawmakers, health care policy provisions and legislation aimed at revitalizing RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
It was scrapped as Trump and Musk threatened to force out of office any lawmaker who did not support pairing a CR with action on the debt limit.
The debt limit is suspended until January 2025 through a prior bipartisan deal, but Trump had pushed for Republicans to act on it now to avoid a messy, protracted fight early in his term.
The second iteration of the funding deal was much slimmer, coming in at 116 pages. It excluded the stadium bill and the congressional pay raise, but still included measures to fund the rebuilding of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and disaster aid funding. It also suspended the debt limit through January 2027.
A House vote on the second plan went down in flames, however, after 38 Republicans opposed to raising or suspending the debt limit voted with all but two Democrats to defeat the bill.
Johnson huddled with those holdouts Friday morning, along with Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, and Vice President-elect JD Vance.
The bill that passed the House on Friday does not act on the debt limit, but Johnson pledged in that closed-door meeting to raise the debt limit early next year as part of Republicans' plans for a massive policy and spending overhaul.
During their closed-door meeting Friday, House GOP leaders unveiled their CR plan as well as a plan to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, followed by $2.5 trillion in net spending cuts, multiple people told Fox News Digital.
Democrats who left their own closed-door meeting shortly before the vote largely said they would support the bill – which they did.
President Biden has said he would sign it into law if it reaches his desk after a Senate vote.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre volleyed away reporters’ questions on Friday about President Biden’s lack of public appearances amid the ongoing government funding fight as a partial shutdown looms.
Jean-Pierre refused to answer why the president has not spoken to the American public about his position, and she instead blamed Republicans, President-elect Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and their "billionaire friends" like Elon Musk for the chaos on Capitol Hill.
"Why hasn’t President Biden said anything in the public about this? Don't the American people deserve to know why millions of federal workers could enter this holiday period without a paycheck?" Jean-Pierre was asked during her daily press briefing.
"All Americans need to know that Republicans are getting in the way here and they are the ones who have created this mess. That's the reality. That's the fact," she responded. "This is not the first time we've been here. And the president has had this approach before. He understands how Congress works. He's been around for some time. He understands what strategy works here to get this done."
Jean-Pierre said Friday that Biden has held phone calls with Democratic leaders in Congress — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. — but would not say if the president has spoken to the House speaker with regard to the ongoing discussions.
"He has been getting regular updates from his team. His team has been in touch with congressional members from both sides of the aisle," she said.
A streamlined version of a bill backed by Trump to avert a partial government shutdown failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.
The bill, which needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, failed by a vote of 174 to 235. The national debt has soared to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
Jean-Pierre said Republicans went back on their word and "blew up this deal."
"Republicans need to stop playing politics with a government shutdown. And they are doing the bidding. They're doing the bidding of their billionaire friends. That's what we're seeing at the expense of hard-working Americans," she said.
"There is a bipartisan agreement that Republicans tanked because of what they were directed to do by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. That's what happened. That is the reality that we're in now."
Musk, an outspoken critic of government waste, has weighed in on the spending bill debate and led a conservative revolt against the first 1,547-page bill due to its bloated spending provisions, calling for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats.
He supported the newer, slimmer version, which was ultimately rejected by House members.
Reporters tried several different ways to try and get Jean-Pierre to comment on the president’s role in the matter, but she continued to sidestep.
"The president is the President of the United States, and he is leading," she told a reporter, to which he responded: "To be clear, the strategy is he is leading by staying in the background?"
"The strategy is that Congress, Republicans in particular, need to do their jobs and get out of their own way and focus on the American people, not their billionaire friends. That is what needs to happen. And that's what the president wants to see," she replied.
Jean-Pierre also warned that a shutdown could disrupt the presidential transition process for the incoming administration.
"If there is a shutdown — and I don't want to get too much into hypotheticals — but this is the reality, transition activities will be restricted with limited exceptions, obviously, such as to prevent imminent threats to the safety of human life or the protection of property," she said.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday that Republicans have a "good plan" to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., added: "I think you come to an agreement, then you get together and sit down and figure out, you know, if we can get across the finish line. And that's probably what we're about to do now."
House lawmakers will soon vote on a bill to avert a partial government shutdown after a similar measure backed by President-elect Trump failed Thursday.
Congress is scrambling for a path forward as the clock ticks closer to the federal funding deadline, with a partial shutdown expected at 12:01 a.m. Saturday if no action is taken.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested there would be a House-wide vote Friday when leaving a closed-door House GOP meeting where leaders presented their plan.
"I expect that we will be proceeding forward," Johnson said. "We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays."
Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed past $36 trillion, and the deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
Multiple lawmakers told Fox News Digital the forthcoming legislation would extend current government funding levels through mid-March, a measure known as a continuing resolution (CR), paired with just over $100 billion in disaster relief aid for victims of storms Helene and Milton, as well as assistance for the agriculture industry.
Johnson's aim is to bypass regular House procedures to get the legislation straight to a chamber-wide vote, a maneuver known as "suspension of the rules."
In exchange for the fast track, however, the threshold for passage is raised from a simple majority to two-thirds of the House chamber, meaning Democratic support is critical.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told reporters he believed Johnson struck an agreement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. A longtime Johnson critic, Massie said he would not vote for the bill.
"Trump wanted a debt limit increase, and now we're bringing the exact same bill to the floor without the debt limit increase," Massie said.
Another Republican lawmaker argued Johnson would not move forward without Trump's blessing.
"We wouldn't do it if they weren't," Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said when asked if Trump and Elon Musk were supportive of the deal.
Trump and Musk led the conservative rebellion against the initial plan to avert a partial shutdown, a bipartisan deal that came from negotiations between the top two Democrats and Republicans in both Congressional chambers.
That bill, 1,547 pages, would have extended current government funding levels until March 14. However, GOP hardliners were angered by what they saw as unrelated measures attached to the bill, like a pay raise for congressional lawmakers, health care policy provisions and legislation aimed at revitalizing RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
It was scrapped as Trump and Musk threatened to force out of office any lawmaker who did not support pairing a CR with action on the debt limit.
The debt limit is suspended until January 2025 through a prior bipartisan deal, but Trump had pushed for Republicans to act on it now to avoid a messy, protracted fight early in his term.
The second iteration of the funding deal was much slimmer, coming in at 116 pages. It excluded the stadium bill and the congressional pay raise, but still included measures to fund the rebuilding of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and disaster aid funding. It also suspended the debt limit through January 2027.
A House vote on the second plan went down in flames, however, after 38 Republicans opposed to raising or suspending the debt limit voted with all but two Democrats to defeat the bill.
Johnson huddled with those holdouts Friday morning, along with Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, and Vice President-elect JD Vance.
The latest plan that's expected to get a vote does not act on the debt limit, but Johnson pledged in that closed-door meeting to raise the debt limit early next year as part of Republicans' plans for a massive policy and spending overhaul.
During their closed-door meeting Friday, House GOP leaders unveiled their CR plan as well as a plan to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, followed by $2.5 trillion in net spending cuts, multiple people told Fox News Digital.
It's still not clear if the bill will sway all the 38 holdouts, however. Many had advocated for a plan to separate the CR from disaster relief and agricultural aid to vote on "single-subject" bills.
But with a partial government shutdown looming just hours away, it appeared House leaders were running out of time to get that done by the end of Friday.
GOP lawmakers indicated that the House could vote on another CR proposal Friday to avert the looming partial government shutdown, but the timing still remains unclear.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., speaking to reporters outside Speaker Mike Johnson's office, said that lawmakers are "very close to a deal" and suggested that a vote could be held that morning.
"I do not believe the government is going to be shutting down. You guys will see some great stuff, very similar to President Trump's plan yesterday," the congresswoman said.
Luna added that "there will be no deals with the Democrats."
"I don't have any reason to believe there will be a vote at 10 o'clock," Johnson said. "I know some people would like to get something on the floor this morning."
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, leaving a Democratic caucus meeting on Friday, also told reporters that Democrats had no update on the timing for a potential vote.
Democratic members told reporters that Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was in talks with Johnson to try and reach a deal ahead of the partial government shutdown deadline, but suggested that the GOP put the original bipartisan deal on the floor.
House Republican negotiators have tentatively reached an agreement on averting a partial government shutdown at the end of Friday, sources told Fox News Digital.
Two people familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital late Frisy morning that House Republican negotiators had tentatively reached an agreement that would include a short-term extension of this year's federal funding levels, disaster aid funding, and agricultural support for farmers – but under three separate bills.
The speaker originally put forward a 1,547-page bipartisan deal that would have extended the government funding deadline until March 14, but the proposal crumbled after Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy criticized the spending bill.
A new proposal, backed by Trump, was hastily negotiated on Thursday, but failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.
The bill needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, but failed to even net a majority, with two Democrats voting with the majority of Republicans to pass the bill, and 38 GOP lawmakers against.
The national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
House Republican negotiators have tentatively reached an agreement on averting a partial government shutdown at the end of Friday, sources told Fox News Digital.
Two people familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital that the deal would include a short-term extension of this year's federal funding levels, disaster aid funding and agricultural aid for farmers — but under three separate bills.
It would also involve an agreement to act on the debt limit next year as part of Republicans' planned massive conservative policy overhaul via a process called reconciliation.
The new strategy comes after President-elect Trump and his allies torpedoed congressional lawmakers' initial plans to avert a partial shutdown ahead of the holidays.
Trump had called on Republicans to act on the debt limit as part of their talks to avert a government shutdown, a demand that dozens of conservative GOP lawmakers bristled at given their concerns about the national debt — which has exceeded $36 trillion.
A plan by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to follow Trump's directives went down in flames on Thursday evening after 38 Republicans voted with all but two Democrats to kill that bill.
Trump, along with Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk, spearheaded opposition to congressional leaders' original bipartisan agreement and even threatened to force lawmakers who supported it out of office.
That bill, 1,547 pages, would have extended current government funding levels until March 14. However, GOP hardliners were angered by what they saw as unrelated measures latched onto the bill — like a pay raise for congressional lawmakers, health care policy provisions and legislation aimed at revitalizing RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
The second iteration was much slimmer, coming in at 116 pages. It excluded the stadium bill and the congressional pay raise, but still included measures to fund the rebuilding of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and more than $100 billion in disaster aid attached.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, was among the conservatives who rebelled against that bill.
"Old bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $0 increase in the national credit card. New bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $4 TRILLION+ debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. Time to read the bill: 1.5 hours. I will vote no," he wrote on X.
However, Roy and other members of the 38-person coalition who opposed the Trump-backed bill were mostly mum on details when leaving a meeting in Johnson's office on Friday morning.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., also declined to update reporters on the plan when leaving the meeting but said he expected votes sometime on Friday.
Now, leaders will need to figure out whether they can rush the bill through traditional channels — which include a House Rules Committee meeting and a provisional House-wide vote — or forgo that via "suspension of the rules," which would hike the threshold for passage from one half to two-thirds.
It is not immediately clear if House Democrats will support the deal.
Multiple Democratic lawmakers indicated on Friday morning that they believed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., had resumed talks with Johnson about a path forward.
Democrats accused Johnson of reneging on the bipartisan deal on Thursday, fueling their opposition to his second plan.
FIRST ON FOX: The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a more than 17,000-page report detailing its work this Congress, touting their success in protecting Americans against censorship of speech and the weaponization of federal law enforcement agencies, Fox News Digital has learned.
Fox News Digital obtained the 17,019-page report compiled by the subcommittee, which falls under the House Judiciary Committee, led by Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
"The Weaponization Committee conducted rigorous oversight of the Biden-Harris administrations weaponized government and uncovered numerous examples of federal government abuses," Jordan told Fox News Digital. "Through our oversight, we protected the First Amendment by investigating the censorship-industrial-complex, heard from numerous brave whistleblowers, stopped the targeting of Americans by the IRS and Department of Justice, and created serious legislative and policy changes that will benefit all Americans."
The report, first obtained by Fox News Digital, states that the "founding documents of the United States articulate the ideals of the American republic and guarantee to all American citizens fundamental rights and liberties.
"For too long, however, the American people have faced a two-tiered system of government—one of favorable treatment for the politically-favored class, and one of intimidation and unfairness for the rest of American citizens," it continues. "Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the contrast between these two tiers has become even more stark."
The committee was created to "stand up for the American people," the report says, highlighting its work to "bring abuses by the federal government into the light for the American people and ensure that Congress, as their elected representatives, can take action to remedy them."
The mission of the subcommittee was to "protect and strengthen the fundamental rights of the American people," the report said, noting that by investigating, uncovering and documenting executive branch misconduct, lawmakers on the panel have taken "important steps to ensure that the federal government no longer works against the American people."
"This work is not complete, but it is a necessary first step to stop the weaponization of the federal government," the report states.
The committee, from its inception, says it has been working to protect free speech and expand upon the constitutional protections of the First Amendment.
"Throughout the Biden-Harris administration, multiple federal agencies, including the White House, have engaged in a vast censorship campaign against so-called mis-, dis-, or malinformation," the report states, noting that the subcommittee revealed the extent of the "censorship-industrial complex," and detailed how the federal government and law enforcement coordinated with academics, nonprofits, and other private entities to censor speech online."
The panel is touting its work, saying its oversight has "had a real effect in expanding the First Amendment."
"In a Supreme Court dissent, three justices noted how the Select Subcommittee’s investigation revealed that ‘valuable speech was..suppressed,’" the report states.
And in a letter to the subcommittee, Facebook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden-Harris administration "pressured" Facebook to censor Americans.
"Facebook gave in to this pressure, demoting posts and content that was highly relevant to political discourse in the United States," the report states.
And in another win for the subcommittee, in response to its work, universities and other groups shut down their "disinformation" research, and federal agencies "slowed their communications with Big Tech."
The committee also celebrated a "big win" in October after it prevented the creation of a new "GARM," an advertising association that engaged in censorship and boycotts of conservative media companies. The committee revealed, before it was disbanded, that GARM had been discussing ways to ensure conservative news outlets and platforms could not receive advertising dollars and were engaged in boycotts of conservative voices and Twitter once it became "X" under the ownership of Elon Musk.
Meanwhile, the subcommittee also investigated the alleged weaponization of federal law enforcement resources.
In speaking with a number of whistleblowers, the subcommittee learned of waste, fraud and abuse at the FBI.
"When these whistleblowers came forward, the bureau brutally retaliated against many of them for breaking ranks—suspending them without pay, preventing them from seeking outside employment, and even purging suspected disloyal employees," the report states, noting that the subcommittee revealed that the FBI "abused its security clearance adjudication process to target whistleblowers."
The report references the FBI’s response, in which the bureau admitted its "error" and reinstated the security clearance of one decorated FBI employee.
The subcommittee also was tasked with investigating the executive branch’s actions in "intruding and interfering with Americans’ constitutionally protected activity."
For example, the subcommittee revealed "and stopped" the FBI’s effort to target Catholic Americans because of their religious views; detailed the DOJ’s directives to target parents at school board meetings; stopped the Internal Revenue Service from making "unannounced visits to American taxpayers’ homes;" caused the DOJ to change its internal policies to "respect the separation of powers and limit subpoenas for Legislative Branch employees; and highlighted the "vast warrantless surveillance of Americans by federal law enforcement."
The panel also investigated the federal government’s election interference, highlighting the FBI’s "fervent efforts to ‘prebunk’ a story about the Biden family’s influence peddling scheme in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election."
The panel also investigated and demonstrated how the 2020 Biden campaign "colluded with the intelligence community to falsely discredit this story as ‘Russian disinformation.’"
The report includes a list of hearings the subcommittee held, letters sent by the subcommittee and subpoenas issued by the panel.
It also includes depositions and transcribed interviews conducted by the subcommittee. The subcommittee conducted 99 depositions and transcribed interviews during this Congress.
Depositions and interviews included in the massive report are of former FBI officials and CIA officials, like former Director John Brennan, former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office involved in the original hush money probe against President Trump, Mark Pomerantz, and interviews with Facebook, Meta and Google officials.
The House is planning to vote on another CR proposal Friday morning to avert the looming partial government shutdown, a GOP lawmaker told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., speaking to reporters outside Speaker Mike Johnson's office, said lawmakers are "very close to a deal" and that a vote could be held at 10 a.m. Friday.
"I do not believe the government is going to be shutting down. You guys will see some great stuff, very similar to President Trump's plan yesterday," the congresswoman said.
Luna also added that "there will be no deals with the Democrats."
Legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown that was backed by Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night. The bill needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass but failed to even net a majority, with two Democrats voting with the majority of Republicans to pass the bill and 38 GOP lawmakers against.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, predicted that House Speaker Mike Johnson would not retain the gavel next year and called for either Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy to fill the leadership role.
"I don't think the speaker is going to remain in power," Lee predicted during a Thursday night appearance on "Jesse Watters Primetime."
The senator went on to say if he is correct, the next speaker should be a "DOGE speaker," a reference to the Department of Governmental Efficiency. President-elect Donald Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead the effort to advocate for reduced government spending.
"Vivek, Elon if you're watching, please sign up, America needs you," Lee said.
In a Thursday morning post on X, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had floated the idea of Musk for House speaker.
"Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds)," Paul posted Thursday morning.
This week, with the prospect of a potential partial government shutdown looming, conservatives railed against a 1,547-page government spending measure advocated by House Speaker Mike Johnson.
President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance also weighed in, declaring in a statement, "Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling."
Before a vote on Thursday, in which 38 House Republicans and most Democrats rejected a reworked proposal with a much lower page count, Trump lambasted Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tx., claiming that the lawmaker was "getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory - All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself."
"Weak and ineffective people like Chip have to be dismissed as being utterly unknowledgeable as to the ways of politics, and as to Making America Great Again," Trump asserted in a Truth Social post.
Lee spoke highly of Roy after Trump trashed the Lone Star State lawmaker.
"There is not a more faithful advocate of conservative policy, constitutionally limited government, or MAGA principles than @ChipRoyTX," Lee declared in a post on X. "President Trump will not have a more principled, hardworking ally than @ChipRoyTX," he added. "If a more devoted advocate for the Constitution exists today, I have not met that person."
Roy delivered a fiery speech ahead of the vote on Thursday, in which he blasted the new version of the spending proposal and the Republicans supporting it.
"Yes, I think this bill is better than it was yesterday on certain respects," Roy noted, adding that to "congratulate yourself because it's shorter in pages but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine."
Roy said he was "sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity" to suggest the proposal was "fiscally responsible. It is absolutely ridiculous," he asserted.
Sen. Paul, R-Ky., reposted a clip of Roy's speech, and commented, "We are either fiscally conservative or not. An unlimited increase in the debt ceiling for 2 years is not fiscally conservative and should be rejected."
In a post on X, Roy noted, "Currently, I’m against raising the debt ceiling without major spending cuts/reform."
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who like Roy, voted against passing the spending proposal on Thursday, suggested that instead of voting on a catchall measure, there should be multiple measures that receive individual votes.
"This isn’t complicated. Separate the bills and vote on them individually. one vote on the clean CR one vote on the debt limit one vote on disaster relief one vote on farm bailouts Radical right? Individual bills for each issue," he posted.
Lee agreed with him.
"Separate the bills," he wrote. "Vote on them individually," he added. "Revolutionary!"
A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night, pushing Congress closer to a government shutdown.
The bill, which had won the approval of President-elect Donald Trump, still lost the approval of 38 Republicans.
The deal roundly lost 235 to 174, scoring only 2 Democratic ‘yes’ votes and 197 Democratic nos.
It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers fought among themselves about a path forward on government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
The new deal also includes several key policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessor.
Like the initial bill, the new iteration extended the government funding deadline through March 14 while also suspending the debt limit – something Trump had pushed for. It also included $110 billion in disaster relief and a farm bill extension.
"Why would we give Joe Biden more money this late in his administration?" said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., after the vote. "The money intended for disaster victims should have been paid for, there should have been offsets.
The Democrats who voted ‘yes’ on the legislation were Reps. Kathy Castor, Fla., and Marie Gleusenkamp Perez, Wash.
Here's a list of all the Republicans who voted ‘no’ on the legislation:
House Republicans failed to secure the majority votes needed Thursday on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown by week’s end, handing a decisive loss to President-elect Trump in an early test of his ability to unite Republicans in the chamber.
The bill failed by a vote of 235-174, including 38 Republicans who voted down the legislation.
The bill not only failed the method that allowed lawmakers to fast-track it with a two-thirds majority. It also failed to pass by normal standards, which require a threshold of 218 "yea" votes.
Roy, who spent much of the day Thursday sparring with Trump over Roy's opposition to the deal, noted that the measure would allow $5 trillion to be added to the national debt, cutting against the GOP’s tenet of fiscal responsibility.
Roy said Republicans who voted to approve the measure lack "self-respect."
"I am absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go forward to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible," said Roy, who had also opposed the first spending bill. "It is absolutely ridiculous."
Still, the number of Republicans who failed to fall in line Thursday evening could signal bigger challenges ahead for Trump, who had sought to bend House Speaker Mike Johnson and others in the chamber’s GOP majority to his political will and pass through a new bill with a higher debt ceiling.
That bill sparked opposition from Democrats, who were more broadly opposed to the idea, and from fiscal conservatives within the Republican Party.
With $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2024, some conservatives are against a continuing resolution, which punts the funding deadline to March and keeps spending at 2024 levels. The deal Trump had pushed for would have included a two-year suspension of the debt limit, sparking further opposition among some Republicans.
That divide put pressure on Democrats, who had widely signaled their intent Thursday to oppose the legislation. Minority leaders spent most of the day railing against Trump and Elon Musk for interfering in the process and tanking the first spending deal, which had been slated to pass Wednesday night with bipartisan support.
Ahead of the vote on the new bill Thursday, Democrats led chants of "hell no," sending a clear signal of their displeasure over the way the new spending bill was teed up.
Following the bill’s failure, Johnson immediately began huddling with a group of House Republicans who had voted against the bill in a likely attempt to shore up support for another vote Friday.
"Very disappointing to us that all but two Democrats voted against aid to farmers and ranchers, against disaster relief, against all these bipartisan measures that had already been negotiated and decided upon," Johnson said after the failed vote. "Again, the only difference in this legislation was that we would push the debt ceiling to January 2027.
"I want you all to remember that it was just last spring that the same Democrats berated Republicans and said that it was irresponsible to hold the debt limit, the debt ceiling hostage."
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded off Thursday about Elon Musk’s influence over the spending drama on Capitol Hill.
"If you're just catching up: the Republican Party, taking orders from the world's richest man, is on course to shut down the government over the holidays, stopping paychecks for our troops and nutrition benefits for low-income families just in time for Christmas," the 2016 presidential candidate wrote on X.
Clinton, a former first lady and senator, was in Congress from 2001 to 2009.
Her comments came just as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., released a new version of a continuing resolution, or CR, to keep the government open beyond a Friday night deadline.
Musk came out in strong opposition to the original spending deal Johnson negotiated with Democrats, threatening to back a primary challenge to any Republican who voted for it.
Without a passable deal to kick the government funding deadline to March and continue spending at 2024 levels, the government will go into partial shutdown at midnight Saturday.
But House Democrats are balking at the latest iteration of a spending plan. And with $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2024, some conservatives are against a CR, which punts the funding deadline to March and keeps spending at 2024 levels, entirely.
"The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious, it's laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., indicated Democratic leadership would whip their members to vote "no" on the deal.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., lamented that the last deal had been blown up by opposition from conservatives, with input from Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
"Everybody agreed," he said, "and then it was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government. And that's just an intolerable way of proceeding.
"Democrats are going to try to figure out how we can salvage the public good as the wreckage that's just been pushed."
Chants of "hell no" could be heard inside the room where Democrats were meeting after the bill's text was released.
The latest continuing resolution would extend current government funding levels for three months and also suspend the debt limit for two years, something President-elect Trump has demanded.
It comes after the original 1,500-page CR drew opposition from the right due to policy and funding riders.
A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.
Congress is inching closer to the possibility of a partial shutdown, with the deadline coming at the end of Friday.
The bill needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, but failed to even net a majority. Two Democrats voted with the majority of Republicans to pass the bill, while 38 GOP lawmakers bucked Trump to oppose it.
The margin fell 174 to 235.
It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers fought among themselves about a path forward on government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
The legislation was hastily negotiated on Thursday after GOP hardliners led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy rebelled against an initial bipartisan deal that would have extended the government funding deadline until March 14 and included a host of unrelated policy riders.
The new deal also includes several key policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessor.
Like the initial bill, the new iteration extended the government funding deadline through March 14 while also suspending the debt limit – something Trump had pushed for.
It proposed to suspend the debt limit for two years until January 2027, still keeping it in Trump's term but delaying that fight until after the 2026 Congressional midterm elections.
The new proposal also included roughly $110 billion in disaster relief aid for Americans affected by storms Milton and Helene, as well as a measure to cover the cost of rebuilding Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was hit by a barge earlier this year.
Excluded from the second-round measure is the first pay raise for congressional lawmakers since 2009 and a measure aimed at revitalizing Washington, D.C.'s RFK stadium.
The text of the new bill was also significantly shorter – going from 1,547 pages to just 116.
"All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
But the bill hit opposition before the legislative text was even released.
Democrats, furious at Johnson for reneging on their original bipartisan deal, chanted "Hell no" in their closed-door conference meeting on Thursday night to debate the bill.
Nearly all House Democrats who left the meeting indicated they were voting against it.
Meanwhile, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus also said they would vote against the bill.
"Old bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $0 increase in the national credit card. New bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $4 TRILLION+ debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. Time to read the bill: 1.5 hours. I will vote no," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X.
