US Congress has two days to avert shutdown after Trump rejects spending bill

The U.S. Congress has two days as of Thursday to avert a partial government shutdown after President-elect Donald Trump rejected a bipartisan deal on federal spending and demanded lawmakers address the nation’s debt ceiling before he takes office next month.

Trump told his fellow Republicans in Congress to reject a stopgap bill that would keep the government funded past the deadline of midnight on Friday (0500 GMT Saturday), saying that any of them who voted for the bipartisan bill should face primary challenges from within their own party in the 2026 midterm elections.

That threat sent House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and the rest of his leadership team back to the drawing board, trying to find a new compromise bill that could win the support of both his sometimes unruly 219-211 majority and clear the Senate, where Democrats hold a 51-49 majority.

If there is no action from Congress, the U.S. government will begin a partial shutdown on Saturday that would interrupt funding for everything from air travel to law enforcement in the days leading up to the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday.

“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

If there is a government shutdown, it would be the first since one that extended through December 2018 into 2019, during Trump’s first four-year White House term.

Trump is now calling on Congress to pass legislation that would tie up loose ends before he takes office next month by extending the government’s borrowing authority – a politically difficult task – and extending government funding.

Congress adopted a limit on the amount of money the government can borrow in 1939, aiming to stem the rise of government’s debt. It has not achieved its purpose — federal debt has climbed to $36 trillion, fueled by Democratic-backed spending, Republican-backed tax cuts and the spiraling cost of the Social Security retirement program.

The debt ceiling is the periodic focus of Washington brinkmanship, and so the nation from time to time faces the risk of a potentially catastrophic default that would shake global markets.

Trump also said lawmakers should strip out elements of the bipartisan deal backed by Democrats, whose support will be needed to pass the bill.

Trump’s ally and the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, who has been tasked by Trump to prune the federal budget, pressured Congress to reject the bill and said those who back it should be voted out of office.

The bipartisan bill would fund government agencies at current levels and provide $100 billion for disaster relief and $10 billion in farm aid. It also includes a wide range of unrelated provisions, such as a pay raise for lawmakers and a crackdown on hidden hotel fees.

“It is dangerous for House Republicans to have folded to the demands of the richest man on the planet, who nobody elected, after leaders in both parties came to an agreement to fund the government and provide this disaster aid,” Representative Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee said in a statement on Thursday.

After a meeting with Vice President-elect JD Vance and other top Republican leaders late on Wednesday, Speaker Johnson said there was a “productive conversation,” without giving details.

“I’m not going to say anything else about it tonight because we are in the middle of these negotiations,” Johnson said.

When asked if raising the debt ceiling will be part of an agreement being worked on, House Republican leader Steve Scalise said lawmakers were “not there yet.”

House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole, who was also at the meeting, was asked if he was confident there would not be a government shutdown. He replied: “I’m not confident of anything.”

The House Republican majority has been restive over the past two years, having thrown out Johnson’s predecessor Kevin McCarthy due to anger over a government funding bill. Johnson has repeatedly had to turn to Democrats for help in passing legislation when he has been unable to deliver the votes from his own party.

Hardline Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested that Johnson could face a new threat to his leadership.

“WE MUST STAND FIRM WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO STOP THE MADNESS!! No matter what. Even if we have to elect new leadership,” Greene said on X.

The next steps for Congress were unclear. Bipartisan agreement will be needed to pass any spending bill through both the House and the Senate, where Democrats currently hold a narrow majority.

The stopgap measure is needed because Congress has failed to pass regular spending legislation for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. It does not cover benefit programs like Social Security, which continue automatically.

The U.S. government has spent more money than it has taken in for over 20 years, as Democrats have expanded health programs and Republicans have cut taxes.