The Republican-controlled House of Representatives in the United States passed legislation on Friday that would avert a midnight government shutdown, defying demand to greenlight trillions of dollars in new debt.
The Democratic-controlled Senate has also approved the bill that ensures the government is funded beyond midnight Saturday (local time), when current funding was to expire.
The legislation, which now needs outgoing US President Joe Biden’s signature, will extend government funding until 14 March, provide US$100 billion ($160 billion) for disaster-hit states and US$10 billion ($16 billion) for farmers.
It does not raise the debt ceiling — a difficult task Trump has pushed Congress to do before he takes office on 20 January.
Republican hardliners who are normally ardent supporters of Trump have in this instance stuck to their belief that government spending needs to be pruned and defied his warnings of revenge.
Why a minority of House Republicans defied Trump
Some 38 House Republicans voted against a previous debt ceiling bill Trump demanded — the first time Congress had been asked to vote on a Trump priority since his election.
While some of his Cabinet picks have drawn some Republican criticism, those who dropped out of consideration — notably — did so of their own accord.
But Trump’s call to suspend limits on borrowing — at a time the federal government’s debt exceeds US$36 trillion ($57.5 trillion) — runs against long-voiced Republican concerns about fiscal profligacy in Washington.
“Suspending the debt ceiling entirely at this point would allow Congress to add an unlimited amount of debt to our already $36 trillion national debt for two years, with no reforms to rein in reckless spending,” said Republican Representative Nancy Mace.
Mace was one of the 38 Republicans who voted against the bill, which was also meant to avert a partial government shutdown that will begin on Saturday without Congressional action.
Trump has prioritised more tax cuts in his second term, which tax experts say could add another US$4 trillion ($6.3 trillion) to US debt over the next decade.
and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to identify ways to cut government spending.
Most of the Republicans who voted down Thursday’s bill come from safely conservative districts in states including West Virginia, South Carolina, Utah, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and Arizona.
Trump threatens Republicans who defy him
Trump has threatened to support candidates who mount primary challenges to them in the 2026 midterm elections.
“Republican obstructionists have to be done away with,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
He doubled down on his demand on Friday, asking a House that rejected a two-year suspension of the limit to lift it for five years.
Hardline Republican Representative Chip Roy, who denounced the debt ceiling plan in a fiery Thursday night speech on the House floor, told reporters he would not support lifting the debt ceiling increase without seeing a specific plan for spending cuts to offset it.
“That’s a non-starter for me. If I lose that, that’s fine. I can go home and be happy and content,” Roy said.
Congress adopted a limit on the amount of money the government can borrow in 1939, aiming to stem
It has not achieved its purpose, with debt soaring, fuelled by Democratic-backed spending, Republican-backed tax cuts and the spiralling cost of the Social Security retirement program.
But it has been the periodic focus of Washington brinkmanship, subjecting the nation to the risk of a potentially catastrophic default that would shake global markets.
Thursday’s failure upped the pressure on Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who leads a fractious and narrow majority and has often had to rely on Democratic votes to pass key pieces of legislation.
Republicans will have an even smaller majority — initially 219-215 — when the new Congress is sworn in on 3 January and lawmakers will decide whether to re-elect Johnson as their leader.
Johnson was on Friday struggling to plot a way forward as an at least temporary government shutdown looked increasingly likely.
Another one of the 38, Representative Kat Cammack, said her opposition to the revised spending bill was “not an easy vote for a number of reasons, but namely, the debt ceiling.”
