Tensions Flare as JD Vance, GOP Leaders Scramble to Avoid Government Shutdown
On Thursday night, Vice President-elect JD Vance met behind closed doors with Speaker Mike Johnson and a small group of Republican lawmakers just hours after the House failed to pass a critical spending bill. With a government shutdown looming by Friday night, the group gathered in Johnson’s office to weigh their options. As of Friday morning, the path forward remained uncertain.
While walking through the Capitol, Vance was confronted by a reporter who asked whether he would support a deal that didn’t include a debt limit increase.
Vance didn’t hold back.
“Look, I’ll say one thing,” he responded. “The Democrats just voted to shut down the government—even though we offered a clean continuing resolution—because they don’t want the president to have negotiating leverage in his first year. And second, because they’d rather shut it down to fight for global censorship bullsh*t. They asked for a shutdown, and I think that’s exactly what they’ll get.”
He brushed off further questions and walked away as reporters continued to press him for details.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed bill to keep the government open through March 14 failed in the House. Despite needing a two-thirds majority to pass, the bill didn’t even secure a simple majority—losing in a 174-235 vote. Thirty-eight Republicans broke ranks and voted against it, while only two Democrats crossed the aisle in support.
The chaos capped off two days of frenzied debate on Capitol Hill, with infighting among lawmakers and growing pressure from Trump allies like Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk. The federal deficit now exceeds $1.8 trillion, and the national debt has surged past $36 trillion.
The spending bill—hastily redrafted Thursday—was intended to replace an earlier bipartisan deal that hardline conservatives torpedoed. That initial agreement would have delayed the funding deadline to March 14 but included several unrelated policy provisions that drew ire from the GOP’s right flank.
The revised, 116-page version—down from a sprawling 1,547 pages—extended government funding and suspended the debt ceiling until January 2027. It also bundled in $110 billion in disaster relief and aid for rebuilding Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, damaged by a barge collision earlier this year.
Notably absent from the new proposal were controversial provisions like pay raises for members of Congress and funding to revitalize RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
“All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!” Trump urged on Truth Social.
But the backlash was swift. Before the bill was even formally released, Democrats erupted in anger at a closed-door meeting Thursday night, shouting “Hell no!” at Johnson for abandoning the original bipartisan deal.
With the clock ticking and tempers running high, the fate of the federal government hangs in the balance.
