President-elect Donald Trump says any shutdown in federal operations should begin immediately under President Biden and not when he takes charge at the White House.
Mr. Trump put the onus on the current president as Congress raced against a Friday deadline to fund the government for fiscal 2025.
“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP,’” Mr. Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. “This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial attempt to pass a stopgap funding bill before Christmas ran into a revolt from his Republicans, Mr. Trump and allies such as billionaire Elon Musk. They balked at the extra spending, such as a pay raise for members of Congress, and liberal policies heaped into the spending bill.
Democrats and dozens of Republicans blocked Trump-revised and stripped-down legislation on Thursday, leaving Congress with a single day to devise a “Plan C” that can win House and Senate approval and prevent a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday.
Democrats said the disarray augurs a bad start for GOP control of Washington in the new year, particularly since they had negotiated a spending deal earlier.
SEE ALSO: Trump commandeers federal spending mess as Biden fades into White House exit
Also Friday, Mr. Trump said he did not want to deal with extensions of the debt ceiling, meaning the legislative limit how much national debt can be incurred by the U.S. Treasury.
Lifting the ceiling often results in painful political jockeying over spending that can bog down Congress for weeks. And the government is set to hit the debt limit in June, potentially impeding Mr. Trump’s agenda.
“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Mr. Trump said. “Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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