Catie Edmondson
Appearances
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
I can pick it up because I've been through many of these spending fights now, and the last few of them have been fairly anticlimactic. They've made it through the Senate to President Biden's desk really without much drama. And I think we generally had an idea that that was going to happen again this time. Mm-hmm. And of course, that's not what happened.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
Instead, when Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, unveiled the spending bill that he negotiated with Democrats, it included a litany of other measures, including $100 billion in disaster aid for the American Southeast. But it also had all of these other provisions that were added to it.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
And so when this bill was unveiled, there was a wide swath of Republicans in the House who were furious with it. And then, of course, we had Elon Musk weigh in, and that really began sort of the final death rattle for this bill.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
Yeah, I mean, as Maggie said, I think this is what he expected his relationship with Republican leaders on the Hill was going to be like. You have McConnell leaving Senate Republican leadership, who is often a foil for him on the Hill. You have in Mike Johnson someone who has really tied his own political future to Trump's. At the same time, what was his big success this week?
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
It was blowing something up. And that is what he has always been successful at doing on the Hill. But when it comes to the dawn of his second term, there's going to be a lot of building that actually has to happen, a lot of consensus building that has to happen if he wants to pass one or two even major tax bills. And that is going to be extraordinarily difficult.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
And I am going to be very curious to see if he's able to use his power to actually build put something together as opposed to just tearing it down.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
Well, I think it was pretty clear that this particular piece of legislation was on life support once Elon started tweeting, frankly. We heard from Republicans who were whipping votes on this that they knew that they were hemorrhaging votes every time Elon tweeted. So when Trump weighs in, it basically pushes this bill that was sort of on the edge, just over the cliff.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
And Republicans realize that that is not going to be a viable option. And Speaker Johnson is trying to figure out what is a package they can put forward that has the votes to paths that is going to be able to placate these, you know, widely divergent factions within his conference that we've talked so much about. Mm-hmm.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
A real problem for him is that Trump added another stipulation, which is he said, also, I need Republicans in this funding package to lift the debt ceiling, to suspend the debt ceiling, because that is a fight I do not want to have on my watch. He actually says in his statement something to the effect of raising the debt ceiling is never great.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
But if we're going to do it, let's do it on Biden's watch.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
Well, this is where the math gets really complicated. As you pointed out, there are a number of Republicans who have said they do not want to vote for a debt ceiling increase at all. There are a number of Republicans who have said that they'll vote for a debt ceiling increase, but only if it's paired with
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
sweeping spending cuts, which again is not going to happen on the watch of a Democratic-controlled Senate and White House. And so then it does become a question of, is there a block of those ultra-conservative Republicans who are willing to walk the plank because it is what President-elect Trump has demanded? And I think it's also an open question, is there a small group of Democrats who
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
Maybe particularly those in tough districts who just went through a bruising reelection who maybe want to show off their bipartisan bona fides by saying, you know, I will work with Republicans to avert a shutdown before the holidays. I don't know what the answer is yet. We still have to figure that out.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
I don't know. I don't think the promise was 20 days of a shutdown. Right. Agreed. I think that most people would agree that there's probably a lot of inefficiency in our government that would be rooted out that the American people would love to see.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
I don't know that having a shutdown, which, you know, the shutdown in 2018 that Maggie referred to as partial shutdown, this would be a full shutdown unless Congress passed legislation. some sort of interim measure, right? Was the promise having the troops furloughed? Was the promise having government services TSA over the holidays furloughed? I don't really think that was the pledge, right?
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
The pledge was we are going to take everything you hate about government and get rid of it, not we're going to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The Daily
Ring-Kissing, Lawsuits and a Looming Shutdown
So Donald Trump is now officially against passing the funding bill that would avoid a government shutdown four days before Christmas.