WASHINGTON (AP) — A government shutdown at risk, House Speaker Mike Johnson is fighting to figure out how to meet President-elect Donald Trump’s sudden demands — and keep his own job — while federal offices are being told to prepare to shutter operations ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline.
Trump said early Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” in coming up with a new plan to also increase the debt limit, a stunning request just before the Christmas holidays that has put the beleaguered speaker in a bind.
And if not, the president-elect warned of trouble ahead for Johnson and Republicans in Congress.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
The chaotic turn of events, coming days before Friday’s midnight deadline to fund the government and as lawmakers were preparing to head home for the holidays, sparks a familiar reminder of what it’s like in Trump-run Washington. Trump led Republicans into the longest government shutdown in history during the 2018 Christmas season, and interrupted the holidays in 2020 by tanking a bipartisan Covid-relief bill and forcing a do-over.
For Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of a Jan. 3 House vote to remain speaker, Trump’s demands kept him working long into the night to broker a new deal. Vice President-elect JD Vance joined the late-night meetings at the Capitol, bringing his young son in pajamas.
Trump’s allies even floated the far-fetched idea of giving billionaire Elon Musk the speaker’s gavel, since the speaker is not required to be a member of the Congress.
“We had a productive meeting. We’re going to continue to work through the night, in the morning to get, to get an agreement,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as he left the speaker’s office late Wednesday.
But adding an increase in the debt ceiling to the package is a show-stopper for Republicans who routinely vote against more borrowing. The current debt limit expires in 2025 and Trump wants it off the table before he joins the White House.
As senior Republicans broke from a Thursday morning meeting in the House speaker’s office there was no resolution yet.
Rep. Tom Emmer, the third-ranking Republican in leadership, said the situation was “fluid.”
Federal funding is scheduled to expire at midnight Friday, a current temporary government funding bill running out as Congress was preparing a new one to keep things running for a few months.