Donald Trump torpedoes government spending bill as shutdown looms

The US is hurtling towards a government shutdown after Donald Trump and JD Vance intervened to urge Republicans to overhaul a key funding bill and lift the debt ceiling before a looming Friday deadline.

Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Picture: Getty Images via AFP.

Donald Trump and JD Vance have intervened at the eleventh hour to torpedo a massive government spending bill, blowing up a bipartisan agreement brokered by House Speaker Mike Johnson aimed at avoiding a government shutdown ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline.

In a joint statement the President-elect and his running mate argued the 1500-plus page bill should be streamlined to carve-out “DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS” and include an increase to the debt ceiling so a future Trump administration will not have to do so in mid 2025.

Mr Trump and Senator Vance took aim at measures that would give members of Congress a pay increase and warned the bill would also “make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee — which accomplished nothing for the American people.”

“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling,” they said in the statement posed on Mr Trump’s social media site. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country.”

The intervention follows an internal revolt with a stream of criticism of the bill erupting on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), spearheaded by the world’s richest man Elon Musk who has been charged by Mr Trump with leading the Department of Government Efficiency as a co-chair along with Vivek Ramaswamy.

Mr Musk launched a campaign on social media aimed at strongarming House Republicans into killing the bill. He warned that “any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years.”

Mr Ramaswamy also posted on X that “if Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO.”

Republican congressman for Missouri, Eric Burlison, slammed the legislation as a “total dumpster fire” and revealed he was “frustrated” with Johnson. He told Fox News the legislation was a “monstrosity” and remarked on how there was “a lot of pork in this bill.”

Republican congressman for Texas, Chip Roy, labelled the bill a “cramnibus” and said it “should not be moving forward.”

“What this has now become is a Christmas tree bill,” he told Fox News.

The pushback puts major pressure on Mr Johnson – who will seek re-election as Speaker on January 3 – after he rejected suggestions earlier this week that he was putting forward an “omnibus” bill rather than a continuing resolution aimed at funding the government until March 14.

The extra spending measures in the legislation include $100bn in disaster relief, $10bn in assistance for farmers as well as reforms for pharmacy benefit managers. But Mr Johnston said he was “not worried about the speaker vote.”

“We’re governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances,” he said. “We’re doing the very best we can under those circumstances.”

The Democratic House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said on Wednesday evening that House Republicans had been ordered to “shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country.”

“House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse,” he said. “An agreement is an agreement.”

Senator Vance posted on social media, arguing that “Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH.”

“If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF,” he said. “It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief. THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!”

Some Republicans, including Susan Collins – the incoming chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee – expressed surprise at Mr Trump’s demand for an increase to the debt ceiling to be included in the legislation.

Republican congressman for Alabama, Robert Aderholt, also said it would be “very difficult” to increase the debt ceiling before the funding deadline was reached at midnight on Friday.

Posting on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday evening, Mr Trump labelled the spending bill an “extraordinarily expensive Continuing Resolution, PLUS” and argued it was “dying fast.”

“But can anyone imagine passing it without either terminating, or extending, the Debt Ceiling guillotine coming up in June?” he said. “This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical Left Democrats! They are looking to embarrass us in June when it comes up for a Vote.”

In a key threat to Republicans inclined to support the spending bill in its current form, Mr Trump declared: “Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried.”

“Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025.”