House Republicans failed to secure the necessary majority of votes on a spending bill Thursday to avoid a government shutdown by the end of the week, handing a decisive loss to President-elect Trump in an early test of his ability to unite Republicans in the House.
The bill failed on a vote of 235 to 174, including 38 Republicans who rejected the legislation.
The bill failed not only in the method that allowed lawmakers to quickly pass the bill with a two-thirds majority. It also fell short of normal standards, which require a threshold of 218 “yes” votes.
Trump-backed spending bill to prevent government shutdown fails House vote
In the midst of the 38 Republicans who voted against the bill was Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who torched the funding legislation in a speech on the House floor.
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, which goes against the principle of fiscal responsibility of the Republican party.
Roy said Republicans who voted for the measure lack “self-respect.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, talks to reporters as he walks past the House Chamber. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“I’m absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns for fiscal responsibility and has the audacity to come out to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible,” said Roy, who also opposed the first spending bill. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Still, the number of Republicans who didn’t line up Thursday evening could signal bigger challenges for Trump, who had tried to bend the House speaker. Mike Johnson and others in the chamber’s Republican majority to meet his political will and pass a new bill with a higher debt ceiling.
That bill drew opposition from Democrats, who opposed the idea more broadly, and from budget conservatives within the Republican Party.
President-elect Trump, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York, November 16. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)
Of $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit by 2024, some conservatives are opposed to a continuing resolution that would push the funding deadline to March and keep spending at 2024 levels. The deal Trump had pushed for would include a two-year suspension of the debt limit, sparking further opposition among some Republicans.
‘HELL NO’: HOUSE DEMS COME OUT ON GOP SPENDING DEAL
That gap put pressure on Democrats, who had signaled broadly Thursday that they planned to oppose the legislation. Minority leaders spent most of the day blasting Trump and Elon Musk for interfering in the process and crafting the first spending deal, which was set to pass Wednesday evening with bipartisan support.
Ahead of Thursday’s vote on the new bill, Democrats raised chants of “hell no,” a clear signal of their displeasure with the way the new spending bill was being crafted.
President-elect Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are struggling to prevent a government shutdown. (Getty Images)
After the bill’s failure, Johnson immediately began working with a group of House Republicans who had voted against the bill, in a likely effort to shore up support for another vote Friday.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“It’s 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 have already been negotiated and already decided,” Johnson said after the failed vote. “Again, the only difference in this legislation was that we would be moving the debt ceiling to January 2027.
“I want you all to remember that it was last spring that these same Democrats were calling out Republicans and saying it was irresponsible to hold the debt limit, the debt ceiling, hostage.”
