To avert a shutdown of the government from midnight today, the Republican leadership has now come up with a Plan C to hold separate votes on three bills: a three-month government funding bill, a $100 billion disaster package and a $10 billion farm aid bill. . It’s not yet clear when the House will vote and how many Democratic votes will be needed to avert the crisis. Fragmenting the bill into three parts will allow these bills to pass or fail in Congress individually.
GOP leaders are debating voting tonight under a process that would require two-thirds of the chamber to agree, or waiting to vote until tomorrow by first passing a rule that would require only a simple majority to pass the funding plan, according to a source.
House Republicans will meet behind closed doors at 12:30 PM ET to discuss a new plan to avert a government shutdown — as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says the “lines of communication have been reopened” with Speaker Mike Johnson.
What happened to Plan A and B?
Plan A was a bipartisan bill agreed by Democratic and Republican leaders. But led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance called for rejecting the bill as it had unnecessary expenses. Also, the bill was given a day before its passage to which the DOGE co-chiefs opposed staunchly and said it was not meant to be read.
Plan B was a new spending deal which had the backing of all the MAGA major leaders including Donald Trump, JD Vance, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. But Democrats and 38 Republicans voted against the bill pushing the government one step closer to a possible shutdown.
Donald Trump said if there has to be a shutdown it should be under Biden’s watch and not after January 20 when he takes over.
What did Elon Musk say about the new plan?
Elon Musk said the new plan of splitting the spending bill into smaller pieces allowing each piece to pass or fail individually sounds promising. Elon Musk’s reaction became all the more important as he emerged as the driving force behind the failure of Plan A and consequently, Plan C.