Lawmakers got here collectively to fund the federal government on Friday, preserving the lights on in Washington till early subsequent yr and stopping a Christmas season shutdown.
The bundle — crafted by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — funds the federal government at present ranges via March 14, extends the farm invoice for one yr and appropriates billions of {dollars} in catastrophe reduction and help for farmers.
The laws got here collectively after a chaotic week that featured 4 totally different spending proposals, affect from President-elect Trump and his shut ally, Elon Musk, and questions on Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) future within the prime job.
Listed here are the winners and losers from the shutdown showdown.
WINNERS
Elon Musk
Elon Musk flexed his muscle tissue on Capitol Hill this week, proving that he has important affect within the Home GOP convention.
The billionaire businessman and shut Trump ally got here out in opposition to Johnson’s preliminary spending plan — which was bipartisan and bicameral — prompting a flood of Republicans to comply with swimsuit. The proposal by no means made it to the ground for a vote amid the widespread opposition.
When Johnson’s grip on the gavel gave the impression to be shedding its energy, some GOP lawmakers floated Musk as a possible Speaker — a longshot prospect however one which underscored their admiration for the SpaceX and Tesla CEO, and discontent with Johnson’s management. A Home Speaker shouldn’t be required to really be a member of the Home.
“I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote on X, the platform Musk owns.
Even Johnson jokingly nodded to these strategies in his remarks following the passage of the funding bundle, telling reporters that he joked with Musk about giving him the gavel.
“Elon Musk and I talked about an hour ago and we talked about the extraordinary challenges of this job. And I said hey, you want to be Speaker of the House? I don’t know. He said this may be the hardest job in the world, I think it is,” Johnson stated.
Musk is poised to be a well-known title — and face — on Capitol Hill within the coming years after Trump put him, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, accountable for the Division of Authorities Effectivity” (DOGE), which is concentrated on slashing federal spending and chopping the dimensions of presidency. Republicans have since launched related teams on Capitol Hill.
Federal workers
Federal staff can breathe a sigh of reduction with the passage of the current stopgap, taking the specter of mass furloughs off the desk for a couple of months.
Congress hasn’t seen a shutdown in roughly six years. Over the last one, in 2018 and 2019, 1000’s of federal staff have been furloughed or skilled disruptions in pay.
As a result of Congress had already handed a few of its full-year funding payments on the time, Congress had solely entered a partial authorities shutdown. The partial lapse, which occurred throughout the Trump administration, was the longest shutdown in trendy historical past.
Farmers
The invoice included $10 billion in financial help for farmers, after some Republicans had threatened to vote in opposition to the stopgap with out the extra assist.
The invoice additionally included a one-year extension of the 2018 farm invoice, as Congress has failed once more to cross an extended extension. Some Republicans have been additionally upset about language they stated would have allowed year-round E15 ethanol gross sales being stripped from the ultimate product.
Catastrophe assist
The invoice included roughly $100 billion in catastrophe assist after management in each chambers confronted elevated strain for reduction within the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.
An enormous chunk of these {dollars}, or roughly $30 billion, will go towards the Federal Emergency Administration Company’s catastrophe reduction fund, as officers had warned of dwindling funds throughout hurricane season.
The invoice additionally contains funding for the Small Enterprise Administration after the White Home stated its catastrophe mortgage program had additionally run out of cash again in October.
IN-BETWEEN
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)
Jeffries from the beginning stated he didn’t desire a debt ceiling hike to be included within the authorities funding negotiations regardless of Trump’s demand — and after days of GOP deliberations, he acquired his want.
When Johnson put a bundle on the ground that included a two-year enhance within the borrowing restrict, Jeffries stated “hell no,” and all however two members of his caucus adopted swimsuit.
Then, after the Speaker rolled out his remaining spending proposal, the minority chief huddled along with his caucus to look at the laws, later calling it a win for Democrats — in-part due to the absence of a debt restrict hike.
“House Democrats have successfully stopped the billionaire boys club, which wanted a $4 trillion blank check by suspending the debt ceiling in order to enable them to cut Social Security, cut Medicare and cut nutritional assistance while providing massive tax breaks for the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected,” Jeffries stated after the vote.
By supporting Johnson’s remaining proposal, nonetheless, Jeffries allowed dozens of Democratic-favored provisions included within the preliminary bundle to be left on the chopping room flooring, together with language pertaining to pharmaceuticals, funding for youngster most cancers analysis and pandemic preparedness and response applications.
These provisions amounted to lots of of pages of legislative textual content and are unlikely to clear the chambers over the following two years of unified GOP management in Washington.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the highest Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, hammered away on the final bundle on the Home flooring.
“This is the group that constructed the deal on behalf of the American public,” DeLauro stated, naming the bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers who helped negotiate the preliminary bundle. “And those services are now being shortchanged.”
Chip Roy (R-Texas)
Roy noticed his profile additional rise throughout the shutdown showdown — however it got here with a value.
The vocal Freedom Caucus member turned the face of the opposition to Trump’s effort to boost the borrowing restrict as a result of it was not connected to spending cuts. When Johnson put a invoice on the ground that included a two-year debt ceiling hike with out spending cuts, Roy railed in opposition to the measure on the ground — after DeLauro, a Democrat, yielded him time to speak in opposition.
“I am absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go forward to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible,” Roy stated. “It is absolutely ridiculous.”
Roy’s place didn’t go unnoticed in Trump world. Amid the federal government funding negotiations, Trump took to Reality Social and referred to as for a main challenger to tackle Roy, re-upping the rivalry between the 2 that broke out after the congressman endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis within the GOP presidential main. Trump did the identical again in 2013, however levied the decision after the submitting deadline.
“I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary,” Trump wrote. “He won’t have a chance!”
In a separate Reality Social submit, Trump referred to as Roy “unpopular” and stated he was “getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory – All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself.”
Roy, for his half, disregarded the offensive, writing on X “No apologies” and tagging the president-elect’s account.
“My position is simple – I am not going to raise or suspend the debt ceiling (racking up more debt) without significant & real spending cuts attached to it. I’ve been negotiating to that end. No apologies,” he wrote.
LOSERS:
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)
Johnson averted a shutdown, permitting federal companies to stay open, letting lawmakers return dwelling for the vacations, and formally capping off enterprise for the 118th Congress.
However in doing so he angered Republicans throughout the Home GOP convention — particularly hardline conservatives — and Trump, spelling bother for his possibilities of preserving maintain of the gavel throughout the Jan. 3 Speaker election on the ground.
Thirty-four GOP lawmakers voted in opposition to Johnson’s remaining spending proposal, and 38 opposed the one delivered to the ground earlier than that, a large present of opposition to a pair of plans crafted by the Speaker. With the funding struggle within the rearview mirror, some Republicans are beginning to reassess their help for Johnson — they usually may doubtlessly be part of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in opposing him on the ground subsequent month.
“I am now undecided on what House leadership should look like in the 119th Congress,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chairman of the conservative Home Freedom Caucus who opposed each measures, wrote on X after the vote.
Trump, in the meantime, has not but commented on Johnson’s remaining spending deal, however it did exclude the president-elect’s predominant demand — a debt restrict hike — a truth that might draw ire from the president-elect. As a substitute, Republicans entered into an settlement to extend the borrowing restrict by $1.5 trillion in trade for $2.5 trillion in web cuts to spending, achieved via a reconciliation bundle within the subsequent Congress
Johnson, for his half, has expressed confidence in his possibilities of hanging on to the gavel, telling reporters on Friday he believes he shall be re-elected to the highest job on the primary poll subsequent yr.
PBM advocates
Members on either side have lamented the lack of bipartisan proposals for pharmaceutical profit supervisor (PBM) business reforms.
Incoming Home Power and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) advised reporters on Friday that it was “a shame” the reforms have been scrapped, however vowed to work on stand-alone well being laws within the subsequent Congress.
Metropolis of DC
Language was stripped from the ultimate plan that may have transferred administrative jurisdiction of RFK Stadium over to the District of Columbia, paving the best way for the Washington Commanders to doubtlessly transfer their stadium from Landover, Md., to the nation’s capital.
The language had initially been included within the preliminary bipartisan funding bundle unveiled early this week, however the deal was taken out after misinformation elevated by Elon Musk on social media that falsely stated the invoice included $3 billion for an NFL stadium in D.C.
President Biden
President Biden is ending his time period with one other shutdown averted, even after Trump advised he can be okay with a funding lapse underneath the president’s watch.
He additionally noticed a lot of his catastrophe reduction request fulfilled. The president beforehand requested for roughly $100 billion in catastrophe reduction in November, a request that was later up to date to roughly $115 billion. The ultimate invoice authorized on Friday landed near the preliminary request, regardless of calls from hardline conservatives for the ask to be rejected with out offsets.
However regardless of these victories, Biden confronted huge flack for remaining out of the general public eye throughout the funding negotiations.
Reporters pressed White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about why Biden had not made any public statements concerning the shutdown, which she responded to by saying he was following “strategy” utilized up to now.
“This is a strategy that we have done many times before, not the first time,” Jean-Pierre stated. “And this is for Republicans in Congress, in the House specifically, to fix, they created this mess. There was a bipartisan agreement.”
It’s potential that Biden’s absence was calculated, and that Democrats and the White Home thought getting the invoice throughout the end line wouldn’t have been helped by public, on-camera criticism of Trump or congressional Republicans by Biden.
But the president additionally appeared to be ceding the stage to his successor, heightening a sense that the present president is absent. A brand new Wall Road Journal report crucial of White Home aides for shielding what the story advised was a declining Biden added to the president’s issues.
Biden has been coming underneath extra criticism for Democrats upset they misplaced the White Home and Senate majority on this yr’s elections whereas failing to win the Home. He appeared to do little to reassure them this week.
President-elect Trump
Trump has an amazing quantity of energy over Home Republicans, one thing highlighted by how rapidly they moved to accede to his calls for when he referred to as for a debt ceiling hike to be part of this week’s bundle.
However then 38 Republicans within the Home ignored his calls, voting down a invoice that included a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling.
The ultimate invoice authorized by the Home had no debt ceiling hike — defying the president-elect’s key demand.
Johnson, for his half, advised reporters after the vote that he “was in constant contact with President Trump throughout this process,” talking to the president-elect shortly earlier than the vote.
“He knew exactly what we were doing and why, and this is a good outcome for the country,” Johnson added. “I think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well.”
Trump, nonetheless, has not but publicly commented on the ultimate laws.
