When U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson released the text of a government funding package he negotiated with Democrats on Tuesday, it appeared all but certain Congress would avoid a government shutdown scheduled to start Friday at midnight.
But backlash to the legislation, which includes $100 billion in disaster aid and a cost-of-living pay raise for members of Congress, has come from President-elect Donald Trump and his closest allies. And that has thrown everything into chaos.
The House canceled votes Wednesday night, and leaders haven’t said how they will approach the topic on Thursday with time running out as the deadline to avoid a shutdown is Friday at midnight.
Georgia’s leaders are split. Republican U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome, Andrew Clyde of Athens and Mike Collins of Jackson all vowed to vote against the deal, with Collins declaring “no amount of lipstick would make this pig pretty.”
Clyde noted in an interview on Fox Business that “the American people gave a mandate to President Trump and literally gave us back the majority and we took the Senate.”
“The American people I think are speaking loud and clear that we have to get our fiscal house back in order and having unpaid for spending is not doing that,” he said.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, meanwhile, urged Georgia’s congressional delegation to pass the measure in a message that Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of St. Simons Island reposted on X.
“While the continuing resolution is not perfect, it contains vital disaster relief funding for tens of thousands of Georgians devastated by Hurricane Helene — particularly our farm families,” Kemp said. “These families cannot wait months or longer for Congress to reach another deal.”
Things started going south Wednesday when Elon Musk, the billionaire tech executive empowered by Trump to find ways to cut federal spending, not only criticized the package but said any Republican who voted for it would be vulnerable.
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk wrote on X.
Trump was silent for much of the day, but he eventually came out opposed to the legislation as well. He said he preferred a “clean” continuing resolution that kept federal funding flat without add-ons but coupled with an increase of the debt limit so that this thorny issue wouldn’t fall on his lap next year.
The problem with Trump’s proposal is that without the additional spending to sweeten the deal, Democrats won’t support the package. Republicans have a slim majority in the House and there are hard-right lawmakers unlikely to support any type of temporary spending. Simply put, any spending bill needs Democrats’ help in the House and must also be negotiated with Senate Democrats, who retain the majority in that chamber.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Republicans will shoulder the blame for turning their back on the bipartisan deal.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government,” he wrote on X. “And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow.”
There is no clear path forward right now, although congressional leaders in both parties do not want a shutdown. That would cause tens of thousands of federal employees to not be paid and close down any government services not deemed essential.
To be clear, there is still time for a deal. Even if it takes a few days, it is unlikely that the effects of a shutdown would be tangible as long as a bill is signed into law by early next week.
This story first appeared in the Politically Georgia A.M. newsletter. Click here to start each weekday with the scoops, news and analysis that define the world of politics in Georgia – from Atlanta to Savannah to the White House.
