US headed for govt shutdown after Trump & Musk oppose 1st funding bill & House rejects 2nd bill

The U.S. government is headed for a shutdown this weekend after a spending bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump and world's richest man Elon Musk failed to pass in the House of Representatives on Thursday (Dec. 19, 2024).

Funding bill expires at 12:01 on Saturday

U.S. federal funding expires at 12:01 on Saturday, Dec. 21 (local time).

Congressional leaders released a short-term bill to keep the federal government open until Mar. 14 on Tuesday evening, Dec. 17, to prevent a government shutdown.

However, Elon Musk strongly came out in opposition to the bill, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that it was "horrible" and an "insane crime."

Trump then also proclaimed his opposition to the funding bill, threatening to remove fellow Republicans if they accepted the bill that didn't include his demands.

Among other things, the 78-year-old Republican President-elect demanded that the new legislation include a debt ceiling increase.

Second bill backed by Trump and Musk fails to pass

The debt ceiling is the total amount of money that the U.S. government can borrow to meet its existing legal obligations.

The debt limit was last raised in June 2023. The current federal debt stands at about $36 trillion.

“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch,” Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance said in a joint statement on Wednesday (Dec. 18).

A new funding bill was scrambled to comply with Trump's demands,  but ultimately failed to gain a majority vote when it was tabled on Thursday (Dec. 19).

Although Trump backed this new bill, several Republican representatives opposed it, including Chip Roy of Texas, who was against a debt ceiling increase.

Democratic representatives also opposed the new bill, furious that Trump and Musk's intervention had led Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to go back on the agreements he made in the previous bill.

President Biden's White House also said it was against the new bill, as it cut funding for "critical programs".

Despite the Republicans holding a majority in the House, the new bill ultimately failed with 174 votes for and 235 votes against.

When questioned by the media, Johnson said: "We will come up with another solution."

What is a government shutdown?

If lawmakers fail to act before the end of the day Friday, the government will begin a partial shutdown that would interrupt funding needed to keep the country running.

This includes being unable to pay more than two million government workers.

If Congress fail to act before the deadline, the House and the Senate can still pass legislation called a continuing resolution to ensure the government fully functioning for a short period of time.

It is unknown how long a shutdown could last, if it does actually shut down.

The most recent shutdown took place from Dec. 21, 2019 to Jan. 25, 2019. It lasted for 34 days.

Top image via Donald J. Trump/Facebook