House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) scorned Republicans on Wednesday after they revolted against the short-term government funding bill at the urging of President-elect Trump. “House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made,” he told reporters at the Capitol. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse. An agreement is an agreement.” The president-elect and his close ally Elon Musk have been railing against the 1,547-page bill released Tuesday that extends most government funding at current levels through March 14. It also includes $100 billion in aid to respond to natural disasters, including Hurricanes Helene and Milton; $30 billion in support for farmers; a one-year extension of the farm bill; and a controversial pay raise for lawmakers. “We should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t given Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want,” President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance said in a joint statement. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he intended for the stopgap to be “a very simple, very clean CR,” but that disaster relief and economic aid for farmers bloated the bill. Republicans began revolting against the bill even before it had been finalized, saying it resembled the kind of massive, year-end spending bills they loathe. Speaker Johnson, of course, is cognizant that he will need to earn the backing of nearly every Republican on Jan. 3 to keep the gavel, and that will surely play into his calculations as he formulates a Plan B. He may try to pass a “clean” CR, meaning a straight extension of funding at current levels without any other provisions attached, however, he will almost certainly need Democratic votes to get the bill out of the chamber — and Democrats still control the Senate. Rep. Jeffries doesn’t appear to be inclined to help the speaker out after he backtracked on the bipartisan deal. “You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” he posted on social media.
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