Government shutdown live updates: Biden signs funding bill after chaotic scramble in Congress

President Joe Biden has signed a stopgap spending bill that will avert a destabilizing government shutdown into law.

The US Congress passed the legislation in the 11th hour following a scramble by lawmakers. The Senate, controlled by the Democrats, passed the bill by a 85-11 vote to continue government funding 38 minutes after it expired at midnight on Friday.

Federal funding was about to run out at midnight on Friday and the White House Office of Management and Budget warned government agencies to prepare for the worst before the vote took place.

The late-night vote in the Senate capped a frantic week that saw president-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk defeat an initial bipartisan deal, throwing Congress into disarray.

The final version stripped out some provisions championed by the Democrats, who accused the Republicans of caving in to pressure from an unelected billionaire with no experience in government.

The package had earlier cleared the House of Representatives, controlled by the Republicans, with bipartisan support.

Key Points

• Biden signs spending bill into law, averting a government shutdown

• Trump and Elon Musk blame Democrats for tanking bill despite 38 Republicans rebelling

• Elon blows up Congress – and the illusion of Mike Johnson’s power

• Joe Biden cancels final round of student loans

• Trump continues to insist on debt ceiling removal despite House defeat

Here’s a look at the $100 billion in disaster relief in the government spending bill

16:10 , Mike Bedigan

Congress is allocating more than $100 billion in emergency aid designed to address extensive damage caused by disasters after this week’s scramble to find consensus on a government spending bill.

The money comes after back-to-back hurricanes — Helene and Milton — slammed into the southeastern United States this fall, leaving havoc in their wake. But the money would go to much more than just those two storms under the bill meant to keep the federal government funded through March 14.

Read more here:

Here’s a look at the $100 billion in disaster relief in the government spending bill

House Democratic Leader says passing bill stopped the ‘billionaire boy’s club’

15:40 , Mike Bedigan

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that in passing the spending bill House Democrats stopped the “billionaire boy’s club.”

“We have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy, and hurting working-class Americans,” Jeffries told reporters after Friday’s vote, adding that the stop-gap measure a “victory for the American people.”

Trump taps critic of Pope Francis to be ambassador to the Vatican

15:10 , Mike Bedigan

Donald Trump has announced that Brian Burch, a critic of Pope Francis, is his pick for ambassador to the Vatican.

“I am pleased to announce that Brian Burch will serve as the next United States Ambassador to the Holy See. Brian is a devout Catholic, a father of nine, and President of CatholicVote.

“He has received numerous awards, and demonstrated exceptional leadership, helping build one of the largest Catholic advocacy groups in the Country. He represented me well during the last Election, having garnered more Catholic votes than any Presidential Candidate in History!

“Brian loves his Church and the United States – He will make us all proud. Congratulations to Brian, his wife Sara, and their incredible family!”

Burch has criticized the Pope’s leadership on social media and shared the writings of some right-wing clerics who are critical of him.

Mitt Romney says he voted against spending bill in ‘protest’ of government

14:51 , Mike Bedigan

Republican Senator Mitt Romney said he voted against the spending bill in “protest” of how the government is run.

“While I support keeping government open, I voted no on the CR—a simple protest of the absurd way this is to run government,” he wrote on X.

Full story: House narrowly averts government shutdown — and rejects Trump’s debt ceiling commands

14:19 , Mike Bedigan

The House of Representatives approved a government spending bill with only a few hours left to spare before a crucial midnight deadline that would have shut down the government before Christmas.

The Senate followed suit about 40 minutes past midnight.

Read The Independent’s recap here:

House narrowly averts government shutdown — and rejects Trump’s debt ceiling commands

US announces deportations in 2024 hit a 10-year high. Trump wants to increase it tenfold

13:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has revealed deportations hit a 10-year high in 2024 as President-elect Donald Trump promises to increase that figure dramatically when he takes office in a month.

ICE deported 271,484 people this year, the highest since 2014 when the agency deported more than 300,000 people, according to their fiscal year 2024 report.

During Trump’s first term, his administration hit a high of 267,258 deportations in 2019. This report comes after Trump spent much of his time on the campaign trail criticizing President Joe Biden’s administration on immigration.

Read more:

US announces deportations in 2024 hit a 10-year high. Trump wants them even higher

US proposes voluntary guidelines for self-driving vehicles in waning days of Biden administration

12:00 , Tom Krisher

In the waning days of President Joe Biden‘s administration, the government’s highway safety agency is proposing voluntary safety guidelines for self-driving vehicles.

But a rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration putting the plan in place won’t be approved before the end of Biden’s term in January and likely will be left to whoever runs the agency under Republican Donald Trump.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whom Trump has named to co-lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” to cut costs and regulations, has floated the idea of him helping to develop safety standards for self-driving vehicles — even though the standards would affect Tesla’s automated driving systems.

Read more:

US proposes voluntary guidelines for self-driving vehicles in waning days of Biden administration

Watch: Biden interacts with toddler during hospital visit

11:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump team warns Starmer’s ‘horrible, arrogant’ ambassador pick means Britain will be ‘locked out’ of key discussions

10:00 , David Maddox

Peter Mandelson’s nomination as Britain’s new ambassador to the United States has provoked fury within Donald Trump’s team, with one insider decribing it as a “horrible, arrogant” choice and his campaign coordinator publicly calling the Labour peer a “moron.”

The choice of the former EU commissioner and Blair-era minister, who previously attacked Mr Trump as “little short of a white nationalist and racist”, prompted a warning that Britain will be “locked out of the most important discussions” with the president-elect’s team because of a lack of trust.

Lord Mandelson’s appointment to Washington means the three people charged with building relations with the incoming administration have all insulted Mr Trump: foreign secretary David Lammy once tweeted that Mr Trump is a “tyrant” and “a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”, while foreign minister Stephen Doughty organised a 2017 petition to stop Mr Trump addressing a joint sitting of parliament.

Read more:

Trump team aide calls new UK ambassador Lord Mandelson a ‘moron’

Trump threatens EU with tariffs unless it makes ‘large scale’ purchase of US gas and oil

09:00 , Ariana Baio

President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the European Union unless it purchases more oil and gas from the United States – an intimidation tactic that Trump has wielded against other countries as well.

After announcing a 25 percent tariff on the U.S. largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, and threatening to increase tariffs on China, Trump has now targeted the E.U.

“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social around 1 a.m. Friday.

Read more:

Trump threatens EU with tariffs unless it makes ‘large scale’ purchase of US energy

Lord Mandelson: ‘Dark lord’ of New Labour strikes back as UK ambassador to US

08:00 , David Lynch

Lord Peter Mandelson has made a career of comebacks – from spin doctor to returning to cabinet after quitting twice – and is back again as Britain’s ambassador to the US.

It marks the first political appointment to the UK’s top diplomatic post in Washington in decades.

Peter Mandelson started out as a Labour communications director in 1985 and was first elected as an MP in 1992. He served in the cabinets of Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Donald Trump – who returns to the White House in January, four years after being ousted – may relate to his comeback story.

Read more:

Lord Mandelson: ‘Dark lord’ of New Labour strikes back as UK ambassador to US

Famed podcaster Kara Swisher pitching ‘long-shot’ bid to buy Washington Post from Jeff Bezos

07:00 , Justin Baragona

Tech podcaster Kara Swisher told Axios this week that she is attempting to round up a group of wealthy investors to put together a bid to purchase The Washington Post amid its ongoing turmoil under Jeff Bezos’ ownership.

Even though Bezos has not expressed any willingness or interest in selling the paper, Swisher believes that the ultra-rich Amazon founder will look to unload the Post due to the compounding headaches swirling around the outlet – many of which lie at the mega-billionaire’s feet.

Read more:

Tech podcaster pitching ‘long-shot’ bid to buy Washington Post from Jeff Bezos

VOICES: Trump’s war on the press is straight out of the Putin playbook

06:00 , Alan Rusbridger

The pen may not be mightier than the sword, but it still has the power to wound. How else to explain the extraordinary remarks of the former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, this week in which he revealed how stung he’d been by an editorial in The Times?

You’d think Russia’s elite had enough problems on their hands at the moment. Roaring inflation and interest rates. Sanctions. Labour shortages. The spiralling cost of war. The mounting casualties in Ukraine. But, no, it was an editorial penned by an unknown hand in London that really got under the skin of Putin’s close ally, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s security council.

Read more:

Trump’s war on the press is straight out the Putin playbook

Measure does not include Trump’s demand to lift debt ceiling

05:48 , Stuti Mishra

Congress did not act on Trump’s demand to raise the debt ceiling, a politically difficult task, before he takes office on 20 January.

The late-night vote in the Senate capped a frantic week that saw president-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk defeat an initial bipartisan deal, throwing Congress into disarray.

The final version stripped out some provisions championed by Democrats, who accused Republicans of caving in to pressure from an unelected billionaire who has no experience in government.

The package had earlier cleared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives with bipartisan support.

US Senate passes government funding bill

05:46 , Stuti Mishra

The US Congress has just passed a spending legislation in a down-to-the wire burst of activity that will avert a destabilising government shutdown ahead of the busy holiday travel season.

Democratic-controlled Senate in an 85-11 vote passed the bill to continue government funding 38 minutes after it expired at midnight (5am GMT Saturday). The government did not invoke shutdown procedures in the interim.

The bill will now be sent it to White House, where President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law.

Watch: Democratic Congressman claims that Musk ‘has Trump in a vice’ and is ‘calling the shots’

05:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Senate will pass CR before 12.01am says Schumer

04:31 , Graeme Massie

Chuck Schumer said that the Senate would vote and pass the continuing resolution by the deadline of 12.01am ET.

“Democrats and Republicans have reached — just reached an agreement that will allow us to pass the CR tonight before the midnight deadline,” he said.

Elon Musk endorses German far-right AfD party as saviours of country

04:00 , Tom Watling

Elon Musk has described the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as the country’s saviour, sparking calls from Berlin for the US billionaire to “stay out” of their politics.

In a post on X, Mr Musk’s social media platform, the mogul wrote that “only the AfD can save Germany”. His message topped a video, which he retweeted, of a German right-wing influencer, Naomi Seibt, known for her closeness to the AfD and for denying human-caused climate change.

The AfD is running second in opinion polls and may be able to thwart either a centre-right or centre-left majority, but Germany’s mainstream, more centrist parties have vowed to shun support from the AfD at a national level.

Read more:

Elon Musk endorses far right AfD party as ‘saviour’ of Germany

VOICES: Peter Mandelson is a gamble as US ambassador – but exactly what Trump needs

03:00 , Jon Sopel

One of the hardest things about being the British ambassador to Washington is giving it up at the end of your term.

You are living in one of the finest private addresses in DC – the only Lutyens built house in North America – with its fabulous art collection, swimming pool, tennis court and hot and cold running servants; with your chauffeur driven Bentley, manicured gardens – and you’re right next door to the vice president’s official residence on Massachusetts Avenue. Trading that for your semi in Balham, or wherever your civil service salary has allowed you to buy, is quite the readjustment.

And our embassy in DC has just been totally refurbished at a cost of tens of millions of pounds. Yes, there can still be a bit of a sewery smell on the lower ground floor, and the fireplace in the drawing room when lit invariably smokes out the whole house so that guests have to retreat to the terrace. But these are small details.

Read more:

Peter Mandelson is a gamble as US ambassador – but exactly what Trump needs

Senate Republicans are not asking RFK Jr about his stance on vaccines

02:15 , Josh Marcus

Robert F Kennedy Jr came to prominence and broke away from just being his famous father’s namesake on the back of his promotion of the idea that vaccines cause autism.

Kennedy has met with multiple Republicans throughout the week about his confirmation to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. This also came the week that President-elect Donald Trump said “There’s something wrong” about the increase in autism rates and that “we’re going to find out about it.”

That earned a rebuke from Sen Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who will be chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“It’s not true and it’s been widely shown that it’s not true,” he told The Independent on Tuesday.

Eric Garcia has the story.

Senate Republicans are not asking RFK Jr about his stance on vaccines

Watch: Fox News host insists Jill Biden ‘voted for Trump’ because she’s been ‘wearing red’

02:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Will the Senate vote before midnight? TBD

01:39 , Josh Marcus

The Senate is headed for a long night.

The upper chamber is expected to pass the government spending bill that cleared the House earlier today, but they have yet to vote on it.

Asked about whether the Senate will vote before midnight, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t quite give a straight answer.

Here’s what he said, courtesy of CSPAN.

Trump moves his entire $4 billion stake in Truth Social into his trust ahead of White House move

01:00 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump has transferred all 114.75 million of his shares in the parent company that runs his Truth Social platform into a revocable trust before he returns to the White House.

His shares in Trump Media & Technology Group are currently worth roughly $4 billion, representing the lion’s share of his roughly $6 billion net worth. He is the group’s largest shareholder.

Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show the president-elect transferring the stake into the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust earlier this week. His oldest son Donald Trump Jr is the sole trustee, and has sole voting and investment power over securities held by the trust, according to filings.

Read more:

Trump moves his entire $4 billion stake in Truth Social into his trust

WATCH: Senate confirms record 235th Biden admin judge

00:32 , Josh Marcus

The Senate just voted to confirm the Biden administration’s 235th federal Article III judge, one more judicial nomination than the previous Trump administration was able to get through.

Hakeem Jeffries celebrates defeat of ‘billionaire boys club’ spending proposals

00:22 , Josh Marcus

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries celebrated the lower chamber’s passage on Friday of a spending bill to avert a government shutdown, just a crucial midnight deadline.

Jeffries said the package, which passed the House without any Democratic opposition, helped ensure the “future of working class Americans” and pointed to provisions like $100 billion in disaster assistance.

The leader also said the bill, which will keep the government funded through mid-March, was a rebuke to the “billionaire boys club” of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who pushed to scuttle a bipartisan spending plan earlier in the week, and considered a plan that would suspend the debt ceiling to further enable the Trump administration’s plans.

Get all the details on the House version of the spending plan.

House narrowly averts government shutdown — and rejects Trump’s debt ceiling commands

Watch: GOP Representative Malliotakis voices her frustration with Speaker Johnson

00:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump’s Congress chaos is a reminder we should brace for ‘unknown unknowns’

Friday 20 December 2024 23:50 , Editorial

With a month to go before he officially becomes the 47th president of the United States, Donald J Trump is already causing mayhem. His rejection of a bipartisan budget deal in Congress has threatened a federal shutdown and triggered huge anxiety for employees and those dependent on public services just before Christmas.

It’s not the first such game of fiscal “chicken” indulged in by America’s politicians – but it serves as a pointed reminder, were it needed, of what may be expected in the coming four years or so.

Read more:

Trump’s Congress chaos is a reminder we should brace for ‘unknown unknowns’

Vote passes 366 – 34

Friday 20 December 2024 23:18 , Alex Woodward, Eric Garcia

House members voted 366-34, with one member voting present.

Those 34 votes were all Republicans.

A bill to fund the government through mid-March marked a third attempt within two days to avert a shutdown, after Donald Trump and Elon Musk commanded Congress to ditch the original bipartisan framework and left congressional Democrats and even some Republicans exhausted with the growing political influence of the world’s wealthiest person.

The funding battle glimpsed how Democrats are approaching the incoming Trump-Musk administration and how they will navigate Trump’s agenda with an extremely slim Republican majority.

Full story here:

House narrowly averts government shutdown — and rejects Trump’s debt ceiling commands

Latest package resembles bipartisan plan that failed earlier in the week

Friday 20 December 2024 23:15 , Rhian Lubin

The latest package resembled a bipartisan plan that was abandoned earlier this week after an online fusillade from Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who said it contained too many unrelated provisions.

That bill would have kept the government agencies operating at current levels, provided an additional $100 billion in disaster aid for storm-hit states and another $10 billion for farmers. It also would extend farm and food aid programs due to expire at the end of the year.

Trump demanded a rewrite to also lift the nation’s debt ceiling, but that was resoundingly rejected by the House – including 38 Republicans – on Thursday.

BREAKING: House passes government funding bill hours before shutdown deadline

Friday 20 December 2024 23:04 , Rhian Lubin

Just in: The House has just approved the three-month government funding bill, sending to Senate with just hours left before shutdown deadline.

Elon Musk praises Speaker Mike Johnson after torpedoing first bill

Friday 20 December 2024 22:52 , Rhian Lubin

Elon Musk has praised Speaker Mike Johnson tonight after the tech billionaire torpedoed Johnson’s first bipartisan deal.

“The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances,” Musk posted on X.

“It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court.”

Voting underway

Friday 20 December 2024 22:41 , Alex Woodward, Rhian Lubin

Voting is underway on the short-term agreement to avert a government shutdown.

The bill is 188 pages long, down from the 1,500-plus pages of the first bipartisan spending bill that failed earlier this week.

Democratic leadership isn’t whipping votes to support the latest bill.

It needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

Watch: DeLauro says Musk has thrown Congress into ‘pandemonium’

Friday 20 December 2024 22:24 , Rhian Lubin

Ahead of the vote to prevent a government shutdown, expected imminently, Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro says that Elon Musk has thrown Congress into “pandemonium.”

Musk questions if latest Johnson proposal is ‘a Republican or a Democrat bill’

Friday 20 December 2024 22:05 , Gustaf Kilander

Elon Musk is getting involved in the government funding fight once again, questioning whether Speaker Mike Johnson’s latest deal is a “Republican or a Democrat bill” in a post on X.

Musk was responding to Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky who claimed that Johnson was trying to pass a lone funding plan, including assistance for farmers and disaster aid, after getting word from House Democrats that they would support it.

US proposes voluntary guidelines for self-driving vehicles in waning days of Biden administration

Friday 20 December 2024 22:00 , Tom Krisher

In the waning days of President Joe Biden‘s administration, the government’s highway safety agency is proposing voluntary safety guidelines for self-driving vehicles.

But a rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration putting the plan in place won’t be approved before the end of Biden’s term in January and likely will be left to whoever runs the agency under Republican Donald Trump.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whom Trump has named to co-lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” to cut costs and regulations, has floated the idea of him helping to develop safety standards for self-driving vehicles — even though the standards would affect Tesla’s automated driving systems.

Read more:

US proposes voluntary guidelines for self-driving vehicles in waning days of Biden administration

Lord Mandelson: ‘Dark lord’ of New Labour strikes back as UK ambassador to US

Friday 20 December 2024 21:30 , David Lynch

Lord Peter Mandelson has made a career of comebacks – from spin doctor to returning to cabinet after quitting twice – and is back again as Britain’s ambassador to the US.

It marks the first political appointment to the UK’s top diplomatic post in Washington in decades.

Peter Mandelson started out as a Labour communications director in 1985 and was first elected as an MP in 1992. He served in the cabinets of Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Donald Trump – who returns to the White House in January, four years after being ousted – may relate to his comeback story.

Read more:

Lord Mandelson: ‘Dark lord’ of New Labour strikes back as UK ambassador to US

Chip Roy brushes of threat of primary challenge

Friday 20 December 2024 21:15 , Eric Garcia and Gustaf Kilander

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas brushed off the threat of a primary challenge Friday.

“That’s just politics, just rough and tumble … my life isn’t built around whether I have an election certificate, my life is built around winning for the American people, winning for my constituents,” he said. “And I think we’ve done that here by saying we can deliver for the president, which means delivering for the American people, while also holding on to our commitment that we’re not going to let the debt ceiling without spending cuts.”

Watch: McConnell’s final remarks as Republican senate leader

Friday 20 December 2024 21:00 , Gustaf Kilander

In his last floor remarks as leader of the Republican Senate conference, Sen. Mitch McConnell said, “Folks come to Washington to do one of two things: either to make a point or to make a difference … it’s usually not that hard to tell who’s doing which, especially in situations like the one we’re in right now.”

‘Transition activities will be restricted’ during shutdown, press secretary says

Friday 20 December 2024 20:45 , Gustaf Kilander

The White House has warned that a possible shutdown would affect the presidential transition process.

“Transition activities will be restricted,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday, according to Politico. “We’re doing everything to ensure a smooth transition, but the choice to allow a transition to move forward is in the hands of Republicans in Congress.”

The only transition activities that would remain unaffected would be those required to “prevent imminent threats to the safety of human life or the protection of property,” she added.

Trump announces Brian Burch as US ambassador to the Holy See

Friday 20 December 2024 20:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump

‘It’s been a disappointing week’

Friday 20 December 2024 20:15 , Eric Garcia

Rep. Jim Banks, who’s heading to the Senate in January, said, “It’s been a disappointing week, but I won’t be around in January to weigh in on House leadership, but I imagine a lot of Republicans … [are] looking for something different.”

Raskin: Republicans are engaging in ‘legislative whiplash’

Friday 20 December 2024 20:08 , Eric Garcia and Gustaf Kilander

Rep. Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, blasted Republicans for conducting “legislative whiplash” as they scramble to find a solution to funding the government.

“So they think that they can engage in this process of legislative whiplash and then coercion at the last minute,” Raskin said. “And they think it’s very clever, but in reality, it ends up damaging them because the American people reject that as a way to govern, and it’s enormously wasteful and profligate to shut the government United States down.”

Congressman floats theory that Musk has promised Trump a ‘windfall’ if he does billionaire’s bidding

Friday 20 December 2024 20:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York suggested Thursday night that Elon Musk would provide President-elect Donald Trump with a “windfall” if the incoming commander-in-chief does the bidding of the X owner.

The Tesla CEO was successful in his efforts to take down a continuing resolution that was set to allow the government to remain funded through Christmas, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson back to the drawing board.

Musk tweeted against the bill Wednesday before Trump did the same, pushing for it to be voted down. Speaker Mike Johnson then withdrew the bill before introducing a shorter version Thursday which was rejected even as it was backed by both Musk and Trump.

Read more:

Congressman floats theory that Musk has promised Trump a ‘windfall’

Senators lament Elon Musk’s influence and say shutdown would have been avoided if he ‘kept his mouth shut’

Friday 20 December 2024 19:45 , Eric Garcia

Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are both fed up after Elon Musk torpedoed a spending deal at the behest of President-elect Donald Trump and might trigger a government shutdown.

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff criticized the fact that the legislation delayed crucial assistance to victims of Hurricane Helene and Milton in his home state of Georgia.

“Disaster relief and economic assistance for Georgia farmers would already be on the way if Elon Musk could kept his mouth shut,” he told The Independent.

Read more:

Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are frustrated with Elon Musk’s antics

Johnson promises no government shutdown

Friday 20 December 2024 19:44 , Gustaf Kilander

Speaker Mike Johnson has told reporters that there will not be a government shutdown.

“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 told the media.

He added that the Republicans have a “unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward.”

“I expect that we will be proceeding forward,” he told the press.

‘Trust breached’ after Musk gets involved in funding fight

Friday 20 December 2024 19:38 , Eric Garcia and Gustaf Kilander

Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said he doesn’t have much “clarity” on what Republicans are going to do amid the government funding fight.

“The details matter. And see what they move forward. They know how to reach Leader Jeffries, but it’s clear that the easiest bipartisan solution that gets us out of this mess, and that’s what we negotiated,” Aguilar added.

Regarding whether trust between the parties has been breached after Elon Musk dove into the funding fight, Aguilar said, “I think that there has been some trust that’s been breached. I mean, we had an agreement, and they backed away from that … but look, we want to find a solution. We want to keep government open. The best, fastest way is the bipartisan solution that we negotiated.”

Trump team warns Starmer’s ‘horrible, arrogant’ ambassador pick means Britain will be ‘locked out’ of key discussions

Friday 20 December 2024 19:30 , David Maddox

Peter Mandelson’s nomination as Britain’s new ambassador to the United States has provoked fury within Donald Trump’s team, with one insider calling it a “horrible, arrogant” choice and his campaign coordinator publicly calling the Labour peer a “moron.”

The choice of the former EU commissioner and Blair-era minister, who previously attacked Trump as “little short of a white nationalist and racist”, prompted a warning that Britain will be “locked out of the most important discussions” with the president-elect’s team because of a lack of trust.

Read more:

Trump team aide calls new UK ambassador Lord Mandelson a ‘moron’

‘Democrats would absolutely support this,’ Boebert says

Friday 20 December 2024 19:15 , Eric Garcia and Gustaf Kilander

Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert commented on whether Democrats would join the House Republicans in voting for the new government funding effort, which includes voting on several different bills.

“I do believe that Democrats would absolutely support this … because they … already heard that [Democratic leader Hakeem] Jeffries is in favor of all of this going under suspension and one up or down vote. So why not break them all up and support that?” she said.

Before a vote, the House has to pass a rule on the floor, otherwise, they vote under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds vote to pass.

Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross of North Carolina told The Independent they haven’t talked about this plan in caucus yet.

“If we put a clean [continuing resolution] with disaster relief and [a] … farm bill extender, this is all bipartisan negotiated stuff,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas said. “For Democrats to vote against that means they’re shutting down the government.”

Government funding fight ‘is a mess that Speaker Johnson created,’ White House press secretary says

Friday 20 December 2024 19:00 , Alex Woodward

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing Friday that the government funding fight “is a mess that Speaker Johnson created. It was his mess to fix … In this day and age, they were able to come up with a bipartisan deal.”

“The impact of this would hurt our veterans and vulnerable Americans across the country … Americans need to know that Republicans are getting in the way here,” she added.

Asked for Biden’s reaction to the labeling of Musk as “President Musk” or “Vice President Musk,” Jean-Pierre said congressional Republicans “under the direction of President Trump and Elon Musk are trying to pave the way … for $5 trillion to our national debt.”

“We’re talking about cuts for billionaires, slashing Social Security, slashing Medicare, slashing Head Start … congressional Republicans did what Trump and Musk said. That’s the reality. That’s what you reported,” she said.

When the press secretary was asked for a response to Republicans who are cheering on a shutdown, and what the consequences would be, she said, “It is sad that I have to explain that … One of their duties is to keep the government open … They’re picking their billionaire friends … not the American people.”

She also confirmed reports that OMB has been notifying agencies to prepare for a potential shutdown.

“Agencies did start notifying their employees of potential furloughs today at noon,” she said.

Hakeem Jeffries has the higher ground

Friday 20 December 2024 18:45 , Eric Garcia

For the past two years of House Republican rule, whenever a handful of conservatives said “hell no,” House Speaker Mike Johnson could lean on Hakeem Jeffries.

Unlike Kevin McCarthy, Johnson hasn’t unnecessarily antagonized Democrats. His decision to put Ukraine aid to the floor led Jeffries to bail out Johnson when Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate.

Johnson broke that trust when he caved to Elon Musk. There was a bipartisan deal on the table that had been negotiated by all sides in the House and Senate. By reneging on the deal, Jeffries has every incentive to hold the line and tell Johnson “hell no,” which was a common refrain among House Democrats on Thursday evening.

This spells trouble for Johnson. Next Congress, Republicans will have only 220 seats, barely a majority. Given there are a handful of Republicans who will always oppose anything Johnson puts on the floor.

Expect Jeffries to hold the line.

Mandelson says it is ‘great honour’ to be named UK ambassador to US

Friday 20 December 2024 18:30 , Helen Corbett

Lord Peter Mandelson has said it is a “great honour to serve the country” as the Prime Minister confirmed he had appointed him the next British ambassador to the US.

Labour grandee Lord Mandelson, who served in the cabinets of Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, becomes the UK’s top diplomat in Washington DC as US President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.

“It is a great honour to serve the country in this way,” Lord Madelson said.

Read more:

Mandelson says it is ‘great honour’ to be named UK ambassador to US

‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ House Republican says

Friday 20 December 2024 18:22 , Gustaf Kilander

Democratic senator slams Musk’s influence amid government spending debacle

Friday 20 December 2024 18:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN Friday that the Republican House funding plan “may not pass the House because all it takes is one tweet from a billionaire 15 minutes from now and House Republicans will go running for the hills. Musk and Ramaswamy are in charge of our government right now it seems.”

Republicans discuss possible funding options in conference meeting

Friday 20 December 2024 18:07 , Gustaf Kilander

Famed podcaster Kara Swisher pitching ‘long-shot’ bid to buy Washington Post from Jeff Bezos

Friday 20 December 2024 18:00 , Justin Baragona

Tech podcaster Kara Swisher told Axios this week that she is attempting to round up a group of wealthy investors to put together a bid to purchase The Washington Post amid its ongoing turmoil under Jeff Bezos’ ownership.

Even though Bezos has not expressed any willingness or interest in selling the paper, Swisher believes that the ultra-rich Amazon founder will look to unload the Post due to the compounding headaches swirling around the outlet – many of which lie at the mega-billionaire’s feet.

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Tech podcaster pitching ‘long-shot’ bid to buy Washington Post from Jeff Bezos

Trump urges shutdown sooner rather than later

Friday 20 December 2024 17:55 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump

Debt limit fight to pushed to next year: report

Friday 20 December 2024 17:50 , Gustaf Kilander

VOICES: Peter Mandelson is a gamble as US ambassador – but exactly what Trump needs

Friday 20 December 2024 17:40 , Jon Sopel

One of the hardest things about being the British ambassador to Washington is giving it up at the end of your term.

You are living in one of the finest private addresses in DC – the only Lutyens built house in North America – with its fabulous art collection, swimming pool, tennis court and hot and cold running servants; with your chauffeur driven Bentley, manicured gardens – and you’re right next door to the vice president’s official residence on Massachusetts Avenue. Trading that for your semi in Balham, or wherever your civil service salary has allowed you to buy, is quite the readjustment.

And our embassy in DC has just been totally refurbished at a cost of tens of millions of pounds. Yes, there can still be a bit of a sewery smell on the lower ground floor, and the fireplace in the drawing room when lit invariably smokes out the whole house so that guests have to retreat to the terrace. But these are small details.

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Peter Mandelson is a gamble as US ambassador – but exactly what Trump needs

‘Republicans need to get onboard with President Trump’

Friday 20 December 2024 17:20 , Gustaf Kilander

‘Trump can sit on Truth Social all day. That didn’t persuade 38 members of Congress’

Friday 20 December 2024 17:10 , Gustaf Kilander

How a government shutdown could impact your holiday plans

Friday 20 December 2024 17:00 , Joe Sommerlad

A partial government shutdown is looming over the United States right before the holidays due to disagreements over a spending bill in Congress and lawmakers have until Friday night to figure it out.

If a spending bill finally does pass, federal agencies would be funded until mid-March.

But if it reaches midnight and there is still no deal, some federal services will be temporarily sidelined or federal workers will go unpaid.

Here’s Ariana Baio on how a government shutdown could impact Americans’ holiday plans.

How a government shutdown could impact your holiday plans

House Republicans to meet to discuss emergency funding strategy and breaking up bill into four separate votes

Friday 20 December 2024 16:50 , Joe Sommerlad

Alaska Senator says she’s begun cancelling flights home for Christmas

Friday 20 December 2024 16:43 , Joe Sommerlad

Republican Lisa Murkowski has been speaking just now to The Independent’s Eric Garcia on the chaos in Congress and tells him she has four flights home for Christmas booked and has already had to cancel one.

“I’m reading whatever you guys are writing,” she said of the struggle to stay abreast of developments.

On Elon Musk’s influence over the incoming Trump administration, Murkowski said: “I guess that’s the power of an influencer. I mean, you know, you would think that there’s value in your election certificate, that we’re back here to do the work – and we will do the work.

“But this is obviously a level of influence that we saw the impact of yesterday.”

Her Kentucky counterpart Rand Paul tells The Indy that he thinks Chuck Schumer will pass a spending bill to keep the government open and then kick it to the House.

“I think Schumer eventually will pass something here, and that it’ll go over there and it’ll pass over there,” he said.

Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester was more blunt, telling us: “Look, the House has taken orders from the unelected false president Elon Musk.

“That’s the kind of s*** you run into when you start listening to people who aren’t elected.

“They need to get their heads out of the back end of whoever they got it up and get the job done.”

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders adds: “You have Elon Musk, an unelected official telling Republicans what they have to do and threatening to primary them if they don’t obey his wishes, you’re really seeing the power of oligarchy and the power of big money.”

Voices: ‘Trump’s war on the press is straight out the Putin playbook’

Friday 20 December 2024 16:30 , Joe Sommerlad

The incoming president and his acolytes are promising retribution for critical journalists, writes Alan Rusbridger.

It is already having a chilling impact – and poses grave threats to the future of the free press.

Trump’s war on the press is straight out the Putin playbook

Elon Musk endorses German far-right AfD party as ‘saviour’ of country

Friday 20 December 2024 16:20 , Joe Sommerlad

Fresh from spoiling Christmas for America’s congressmen and women, the Big Tech mogul has described the far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) as the country’s “saviour”, sparking calls from Berlin for him to “stay out” of its politics.

Honestly, couldn’t he just take up tennis or something?

Here’s Tom Watling’s report.

Elon Musk endorses far right AfD party as ‘saviour’ of Germany