The US House of Representatives rejected on Thursday afternoon an alternative agreement, backed by Donald Trump, to avoid a government shutdown at midnight this Friday. Unlike the original agreement, the result of a bipartisan negotiation and which was torpedoed by the conservatives with Elon Musk at the helm, this plan B had only the signature of the Republicans, although this did not guarantee its viability, as the result of the vote, due to the strong opposition of some Republican hawks and the majority of Democrats. Rejection means returning to square one, to the abyss of just over 24 hours before the foreseeable closure of the Administration.
In less than 24 hours, and at the request of the president-elect, who encouraged his party to present an alternative to the agreement destroyed on Wednesday by the offensive led by Musk, his co-religionists improvised a compromise agreement, of only 116 pages (the original had more 1,500), which contemplated an extension of financing until March and the suspension for two years of the debt ceiling, that is, the maximum amount of money that the Government can borrow, with authorization from Congress, to finance their obligations. The last point was the condition that Trump had set on Wednesday to give his approval to an initiative.
Plan B thus crowned 48 chaotic hours, those that have elapsed since the presentation of the original agreement on Tuesday night by the speaker of the House, Republican Mike Johnson. A period in which legislators had an agreement within reach only to see it crumble by the second due to Musk’s tweets on the social network X (formerly Twitter). The technology magnate, who is also one of the men closest to Trump, was not the only one who opposed the version agreed upon by the parties; but he was the one who took the lead in the demolition operation. The president-elect and his number twoVice President JD Vance, supported his criticism and together they dynamited a bill that, according to the most radical faction of the Republicans, including members of the Freedom Caucus, made concessions to the Democrats.
The new bill, which represented only the vision of Republicans, maintained some of the bipartisan provisions of the initial package negotiated by Johnson, but eliminated others such as the pay increase for members of Congress, which would have been the first since 2009. The project allocated approximately $100 billion in disaster relief and about $10 billion in economic aid to farmers, as did the bipartisan agreement reached on Tuesday. Newly, it included a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill, as well as extensions for some health care programs, although not all of those that were in the initial agreement. The reform of the management or intermediation system for pharmaceutical benefits had been eliminated from the package, a bipartisan pact that significantly increased the length of the initial text.
Controversial clauses
The pruning of the initial bill was even more drastic. A clause was removed to authorize a pandemic risk prevention law, which had sparked criticism from Musk and the most right wing of the party. A bipartisan bill to address the opioid crisis was also killed. The new text also did not include the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over RFK stadium to the District of Columbia, Washington. It did, however, collect federal funding to rebuild the Baltimore bridge, which collapsed in March.
But despite the cut in objectives, legislators and observers practically considered the project dead before being voted on. “Bad agreement,” said Representative Chip Roy of Texas. “Tell me what has changed for the better. I just don’t understand it unless someone is missing something or someone isn’t telling me the details,” said Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia. The Democrats, for their part, continue to control the Senate and the White House, which anticipated their rejection, as Hakeem Jeffries, leader of the Democratic minority in the House, made clear (“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious, it is laughable “). The White House also criticized the Republicans’ draft for “doing the bidding of their billionaire benefactors at the expense of hard-working Americans.” The text required the support of two-thirds of the House to be approved.
Unaware of the difficulties facing the text, Trump enthusiastically endorsed the new agreement just two hours before the vote. “A VERY important piece, VITAL for the agenda America First”, declared. “SUCCESS in Washington!” he wrote in Truth Social. “Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have reached a very good Agreement for the American People (…) All Republicans, and even Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote YES on this Bill TONIGHT!”, he added. With 32 days left to take office, it does not seem that they are paying much attention to him, including some of his co-religionists.
