Trump, Vance call on Speaker Johnson to scrap funding patch, raise debt ceiling

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance called on House Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday to scrap his proposed short-term spending deal and raise the nation’s borrowing limit, dealing another blow to the funding patch with just two days until the deadline to prevent a partial government shutdown.

The joint statement from Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance is the first time the pair have weighed in on the speaker’s short-term funding deal, which was hammered throughout the day by one of the president-elect’s attack dogs and co-chair of the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. 

“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” they said. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.” 

Government funding is set to lapse on Friday unless Congress passes a deal to keep the lights on. Mr. Johnson’s plan would last until March 14, but has been reviled by a broad spectrum of the House GOP and some Democrats since being released late Tuesday night. 

Hardliners and more moderate conservatives have taken issue with the colossal size of the more than 1,500-page bill, the lack of ways to pay for more than $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in economic assistance to farmers and pay raises for lawmakers, which has also proven to be a sticking point for a handful of House Democrats. 

The debt ceiling is how much the government can borrow to pay its debts and obligations, and was suspended until 2025 as the federal government hurtled toward default last year, through a deal struck by President Biden and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

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That deal was heavily criticized by Republican hardliners, who argued that Mr. McCarthy caved to Democrats and did not push for steep spending cuts.

Now with a short-term funding patch on life support, Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance say that although increasing the debt ceiling isn’t an attractive option, “we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch.”

“If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now,” they said. “And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”

Mr. Johnson has not yet said what he plans to do, but is reportedly considering a backup plan that would produce a trimmed-down funding patch. The Washington Times reached out to the speaker’s office for comment on his next steps.

Turning his back on the current plan, which was negotiated in part with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, could see Mr. Johnson lose any support he may have gained with Democrats in the House and Senate.

“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government, and hurt the working class Americans they claim to support,” Mr. Jeffries said on X. “You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow.”