US government shutdown looms as Trump-backed spending deal fails in House
US House vote came after President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk tanked a bipartisan version that looked set to pass
A spending bill backed by Donald Trump failed in the US House of Representatives as dozens of Republicans defied the president-elect, leaving Congress with no clear plan to avert a fast-approaching government shutdown that could disrupt Christmas travel.
Thursday’s vote laid bare fault lines in Trump’s Republican Party that could surface again next year when they control the White House and both chambers of Congress.
Trump had pressured lawmakers to tie up loose ends before he takes office on January 20, but members of the party’s right flank refused to support a package that would increase spending and clear the way for a plan that would add trillions more to the federal government’s US$36 trillion in debt.
“I am absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible,” said Republican congressman Chip Roy, one of 38 Republicans who voted against the bill.
The package failed by a vote of 174-235 just hours after it was hastily assembled by Republican leaders seeking to comply with Trump’s demands. A prior bipartisan deal was scuttled after Trump and the world’s richest person Elon Musk came out against it on Wednesday.
