Government shutdown live updates: House passes stop-gap funding bill, sends to Senate

The federal government is set to run out of money Friday night.

ByIvan Pereira, Lauren Peller, and Mary Bruce, ABC News WTVD logo
Last updated: Saturday, December 21, 2024 12:34AM GMT
Government shutdown: House passes funding bill, sends to Senate
The House of Representatives has passed a funding bill to avert a federal shutdown. The bill, which funds the government until March, will head to the Senate.

WASHINGTON -- Republican congressional leaders Thursday night failed to pass a revamped plan to avoid a government shutdown looming Friday night -- and to satisfy President-elect Donald Trump's explosive demand that the debt limit be raised, or eliminated, at the same time.

Thousands of federal workers could have to work without pay, others could be furloughed and many government services could be affected.

Democrats say Republicans will own the consequences since Trump and his ally Elon Musk blew up a funding deal GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson had proposed.

ByJohn Parkinson and Lauren Peller ABCNews logo
Dec 20, 2024, 10:06 PM

What's included in the new bill

The new legislation is a short-term extension that funds government through March 14, 2025.

It does not address the debt limit in the legislative text, which was a key demand from President-elect Donald Trump.

It also includes $100 billion for disaster aid; $30 billion for farmers; and a one-year extension of the farm bill.

ByClaire Brinberg ABCNews logo
Dec 20, 2024, 11:01 PM GMT

Musk endorses funding deal

Billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk posted a statement on X that he supports the current funding deal that is being voted on.

"The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances. It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court," said Musk, who threatened GOP members two days ago.

ByJohn Parkinson ABCNews logo
Dec 20, 2024, 10:48 PM GMT

Jeffries evaluating bill, pleased debt limit provision was removed

Prior to the start of voting on the new funding bill, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed approval of the removal of the debt limit provision.

"What needed to come out of the bill has come out of the bill, and now we've got to evaluate the four corners of what remains in the legislation," he said.

Pressed by ABC News' Jay O'Brien if that means Democrats should vote for it, Jeffries waffled.

"That's what we're going to discuss," the New York congressman said. "But the reckless effort to remove the ability for the American people to have a real discussion in terms of fiscal responsibility by trying to jam a debt ceiling suspension into the legislation at the eleventh hour was not sustainable."

ABCNews logo
Dec 20, 2024, 10:42 PM GMT

Vote for new bill underway

The House has begun voting on a funding bill that would prevent a government shutdown. The vote needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

ABCNews logo
Dec 20, 2024, 10:28 PM GMT

House Appropriations Dem raises concerns about Musk's China connections

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, sent a letter to congressional leaders questioning whether Elon Musk helped tank the first bipartisan government funding bill due to language it included about restricting U.S. investments in China.

"It is particularly disturbing that Musk may have sought to upend this critical negotiated agreement to remove a bipartisan provision regulating U.S. investments in China in order to protect his wallet and the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of American workers, innovators, and businesses," DeLauro wrote in the letter Friday.

DeLauro also explained how an outbound investment provision would have kept new technologies in the United States and prevented wealthy investors from offshoring production and U.S. intellectual property to China.

Nearly a quarter of Tesla's global revenue in 2023 drew from sales of Chinese-made vehicles from the Shanghai factory, she said.

"I urge congressional leadership to return to the deal and include this critical provision that ensures U.S. capabilities and capital do not fuel that of the Chinese Community Party," she said.