US Congress has two days to avert shutdown as Trump rejects spending bill

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Congress has two days to avert a partial government shutdown after Republican President-elect Donald Trump rejected a bipartisan deal late on Wednesday and demanded lawmakers also raise the nation’s debt ceiling before he takes office next month.

Trump pressured his fellow Republicans in Congress to reject a stopgap bill to keep the government funded past the deadline of midnight on Friday.

Absent congressional action, the U.S. government will begin a partial shutdown on Saturday that would disrupt everything from air travel to law enforcement in the days leading up to the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday.

The bipartisan deal reached on Tuesday would have extended funding through March 14.

Trump warned that Republicans who vote for the current legislative package could have trouble getting re-elected because they will face primary challenges inside their own party.

“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

If it were to materialize, it would be the first government shutdown since one that extended through December 2018 into 2019, during Trump’s first four-year White House term.

Trump is now calling on Congress to pass legislation that would tie up loose ends before he takes office next month by raising the government’s borrowing authority – a politically difficult task – and extending government funding.

He also said lawmakers should strip out elements of the deal backed by Democrats, whose support would be necessary for passage.

Trump’s comments came after his ally Elon Musk, who has been tasked by Trump to prune the federal budget, pressured Congress to reject the bill and said those who back it should be voted out of office.

After a meeting with Vice President-elect JD Vance and other top Republican leaders late on Wednesday, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said there was a “productive conversation,” without giving details.

“I’m not going to say anything else about it tonight because we are in the middle of these negotiations,” Johnson said.

When asked if raising the debt ceiling will be part of an agreement being worked on, House Republican leader Steve Scalise said lawmakers were “not there yet.”