Trump Declares Victory Ahead of Anticipated Thursday Night Vote on Funding Measure
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump scored a significant legislative win on Thursday, more than a month before he formally returns to the White House.
“Success in Washington!” Trump declared on Truth Social, his social media platform.
His expression of delight came just 24 hours after he effectively blew up a bipartisan stopgap funding deal intended to avert a government shutdown at midnight tomorrow.
On Wednesday night, Trump called the three-month government funding bill House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., brokered with House Democrats both “unacceptable” and a “trap” laid by the minority party.
In its original form, the 1,500-page bill would have averted a government shutdown by maintaining current levels of spending until March 14.
It also contained a number of unrelated provisions, including more than $100 million in disaster aid and emergency funding, a 500-page health care package, a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, and a cost-of-living raise for Congress.
But Trump wanted more than to block the many sweeteners Johnson was willing to offer the Democrats.
What he wanted, he said, is for the federal debt ceiling to be eliminated, a move he said was vital to advancing his America-first agenda — and he vowed to field primary challengers against any Republican who voted in favor of a measure that didn’t include that provision.
The new, dramatically slimmed down 116-page version of the funding measure came after hours of meetings in the speaker’s office with Republican leaders and James Braid, Trump’s incoming director of Legislative Affairs.
The new package will again extend government funding for three months, and it will also suspend the debt limit until January 2027.
It also extends the Farm Bill for a year and will continue to provide $100 billion for disaster aid.
Most of the rest of the original bill is now gone, and Trump, it appeared, couldn’t have been happier.
“Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal for the American People,” the president-elect wrote. “The newly agreed to ‘American Relief Act of 2025’ will keep the government open, fund our great farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes.
“A very important piece, vital to the America First Agenda, was added as well — The date of the very unnecessary Debt Ceiling will be pushed out two years, to January 30, 2027. Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the people gave us a mandate to accomplish,” Trump said.
“All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘Yes’ for this bill, Tonight!” he added.
For their part, House Democrats had spent much of the day engaged in a futile effort to get Johnson to stick with the original agreement.
They were said to be meeting behind closed doors Thursday afternoon to stake out their position on tonight’s critical vote. (An email from House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, of Massachusetts, encouraged all Democratic members to vote no.)
As this article went to press, the House was expected to reconvene at 5:20 p.m. to begin debate over the “American Relief Act.”
The actual vote on the measure is expected sometime after 6 p.m.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
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