Trump urges US lawmakers to reject spending bill, raising shutdown odds
Trump asks Congress to raise debt ceiling and rewrite spending bill three days before funding expires
Musk, world's richest person, sparked fresh wave of opposition to stopgap measure
Government will begin partial shutdown on Saturday without congressional action
Adds Trump statement, paragraphs 2, 6; detail and background, paragraphs 4,5,8,9; lawmaker comment, paragraph 15
By Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson, Andy Sullivan and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday called on U.S. lawmakers to reject a stopgap bill to keep thegovernment funded past Friday,raising the likelihood of a partial shutdown.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance called on lawmakers to pass a different temporary spending bill than the one unveiled on Tuesday, free from what they called "Democrat giveaways." Trump also called on lawmakers to use the bill to address the nation's debt ceiling, injecting a new element of complexity into the process.
That could complicate efforts to avert a shutdown that would disrupt everything from air travel to law enforcement days before the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday. 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.
Democrats currently control the Senate, and Democratic President Joe Biden remains in power until Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
The current bill would fund government agencies at current levels and provide $100 billion for disaster relief and $10 billion in farm aid. It also includes a wide range of unrelated provisions, such as a pay raise for lawmakers and a crackdown on hidden hotel fees.
Trump and Vance said Congress should limit the bill to temporary spending and disaster relief -- and also raise the national debt ceiling, a politically painful task that is scheduled to come to a head next year.
"If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration?" they said in the statement.
Congress's next steps were unclear. Bipartisan agreement will be needed to pass any spending bill through the House of Representatives, where Republicans have a narrow majority, and the Senate.
The stopgap measure is needed because Congress has failed to pass regular spending legislation for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. It does not cover benefit programs like Social Security, which continue automatically.
The U.S. government has spent more money than it has taken in for more than 20 years, as Democrats have expanded health programs and Republicans have cut taxes, and an aging population is projected to push up the cost of retirement and health programs in the years to come. Steadily mounting debt -- currently $36 trillion -- will force lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling at some point, either now or when borrowing authority runs out next year. Failure to act could shock bond markets with potentially severe economic consequences.
MUSK WADES IN
Trump's comments came after his ally Elon Musk pressured Congress to reject the bill and said those who back it should be voted out of office.
The Tesla chief executive and world's richest person, who spent more than $250 million to help Trump get elected, has been tasked by Trump to prune the federal budget.
Unless Congress acts, the federal government will run out of money to fund operations on Saturday. Negotiators on Tuesday agreed on a deal to extend funding through March 14.
House Republicans who helped negotiate the bill said Musk's opposition complicated passage.
"There's never an easy fix to anything around here," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole.
Democrats said Trump's statement was a sign of chaos ahead. "House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow," House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on social media.
Many Republicans already object to additional spending and unrelated provisions that have been added to the package.
Trump in the past has sometimes voiced support for government shutdowns, and the 2018-2019 one was the longest in U.S. history, lasting 34 days.
Musk has emerged as one of the biggest spenders in U.S. politics this year, and his threat could resonate with some Republicans. It likely carries less weight with Democrats who represent solidly liberal areas, or senators from both parties who will not be up for reelection for another six years. Musk tried and failed in November to influence the outcome of the Senate Republicans' leadership contest.
A wide range of government services would be disrupted if Congress does not act before Saturday, including agencies like the Pentagon and NASA that do business with Musk's companies.
US stopgap spending bills covers stadiums and deepfake porn as well as budget ID:nL6N3NJ0HS
Musk’s many links to Washington https://reut.rs/3Yw9030
Reporting by Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson and Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Bo Erickson and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
