Senate Republicans were frustrated Thursday after watching what they called a what they called the dysfunctional “s‑‑‑ show” and “fiasco” in the House over the government funding bill. Two attempts to fund the government through Christmas had failed, leaving lawmakers scrambling just before a potential government shutdown.
With the deadline fast approaching, Congress still had no clear plan to pass a stopgap funding bill that could be approved by both the House and Senate, and signed by President Biden before Friday’s deadline.
“I get weary with the drama associated with this. This is so dysfunctional and so distracting from the things we should be doing,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), though he expressed hope that “we’ll pull the rabbit out of the hat” with a last-minute deal to avoid a shutdown. But by Thursday night, just over 24 hours before the deadline, there was no clear path forward.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a close ally of former President Trump, said the collapse of Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) latest plan to keep the government funded, which lawmakers had called “Plan B,” made a shutdown almost certain. “Shut it down. It’s what’s going to happen. They’re going to shut it down,” Tuberville said.
When asked if Trump still supported Johnson serving another two years as Speaker, Tuberville didn’t offer a clear answer. “We’ll see after this fiasco,” he replied.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also weighed in, signaling that he wouldn’t support the bill Johnson tried to pass through the House. “It’s kind of a s‑‑‑ show over there, so who knows when that’s going to happen,” Paul said, adding that he didn’t know when the House would finally find enough votes to send the bill to the Senate.
Thursday’s failed vote in the House capped a chaotic day of negotiations and uncertainty over how Congress would avoid a shutdown after Trump rejected the original 1,547-page funding bill that Johnson and other leaders had posted on Tuesday. Trump added to the confusion by insisting that House Republicans pass a bill to raise the debt limit, hoping to put the blame on President Biden for adding to the national debt.
In response, Speaker Johnson unveiled a smaller 116-page bill that would fund the government until March 14, providing around $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in farm aid. However, the plan was quickly dismissed by House Democrats, with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) calling it “laughable.” Democrats could be heard chanting “hell no” behind closed doors in the basement of the Capitol.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Congress is now “dangerously close” to a government shutdown. “I don’t know what the plan is now,” she told reporters. Collins noted that Trump’s call for a debt limit increase “seems to have aggravated the Democrats considerably.”
“We can’t have a government shutdown, and we’re getting dangerously close to that,” she said. Collins also expressed her willingness to support a clean three-week continuing resolution just to get past Christmas without a shutdown. “My No. 1 goal is to prevent a government shutdown, and we have to do a three-week extension, so be it,” she said.
However, Republican senators from states hard-hit by hurricanes, such as Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), made it clear that they wouldn’t support any funding bill that didn’t include full disaster relief.
“I don’t think $10 billion or $20 billion and a promise we’ll do something more in March is an acceptable solution,” Sen. Tillis said earlier in the day. “We know what the need is today, it was negotiated in package and it needs to be in a package to get my support to get out of here.”
Sen. Graham called disaster relief “essential to South Carolina,” pointing out that the damage caused by hurricanes this year was even worse than the infamous Hurricane Hugo in 1989. “I cannot tell you the level of destruction that’s hit South Carolina,” Graham said, emphasizing that Trump had committed to including disaster relief in any government funding deal. “Disaster relief is an absolute must to get my vote and my support,” Graham said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Speaker Johnson to return to the original 1,547-page deal he had supported earlier in the week, even though Trump and many conservatives in the House GOP opposed it. “It’s a good thing the bill failed in the House. And now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement we came to,” Schumer said.
