White House blasts GOP funding bill ahead of vote

The White House on Thursday bashed a newly released Republican funding bill as a “billionaire giveaway” ahead of the vote on it on the House floor.

“Republicans are doing the bidding of their billionaire benefactors at the expense of hardworking Americans,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

She accused Republicans of “breaking their word to support a bipartisan agreement” aimed to lower prescription drug costs and make it harder for companies to offshore jobs to China and said they replaced it with a bill to give tax breaks to billionaires “while cutting critical programs working families count on.”

Jean-Pierre said President Biden does not support the new Republican bill, suggesting he would veto the legislation if it reached his desk.

“President Biden supports the bipartisan agreement to keep the government open, help communities recovering from disasters, and lower costs — not this giveaway for billionaires that Republicans are proposing at the eleventh hour,” she said.

Republicans earlier Thursday announced an agreement on a plan B to avert a government shutdown ahead of Friday’s deadline. It included a three-month continuation of government funding and a two-year suspension of the debt limit, which is a provision that President-elect Trump called for Wednesday when he urged Republicans to kill the bipartisan agreement that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had negotiated.

Billionaire Elon Musk also put heat on the Speaker when he publicly lobbied against the bill.

The new legislation keeps some of the bipartisan provisions that Johnson negotiated but stripped out controversial measures like a pay raise for members of Congress.

House Democrats are also rallying in overwhelming opposition to the Republicans’ second stab at a government funding bill, vowing to sink it on the House floor.

The House is scheduled to vote on it Thursday evening, and debate of the bill was underway at the time of the White House statement.

Topics

House GOP's new funding bill to avoid shutdown fails in fast-track vote

House Republicans are trying to pass a new plan to keep the government funded until mid-March.
CBS News - 3h
White House blasts Republicans for collapse of short-term funding bill

Politico - 1d
House GOP reaches Trump-backed funding deal

House Republicans are planning to vote on a new short-term funding measure after a previous plan collapsed Wednesday night due to pushback from President-elect Donald Trump. CBS News' Scott ...
CBS News - 11h
Watch: House votes on spending bill

The House is slated to vote on the revamped government spending bill Thursday evening. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) initially proposed the continuing resolution Tuesday evening, but was met with ...
The Hill - 12h
Trump joins Elon Musk in opposing House GOP's government funding bill

President-elect Donald Trump came out against a government funding bill backed by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
CNBC - 21h
White House blasts Trump, GOP over spending threats

The White House on Wednesday blasted President-elect Trump and Republicans for sinking a proposed government spending deal, raising the possibility of a shutdown. “Republicans need to stop playing ...
The Hill - 1d
Hawley blasts exclusion of RECA expansion from government funding bill

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) blasted the exclusion of an agreement to reauthorize the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) from a 1,500-page bill to fund the federal government, blaming Speaker ...
The Hill - 1d
Musk says House GOP shouldn't pass stopgap funding deal

Tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk came out against a stopgap deal as he pushes for the government to reduce spending. The bipartisan legislation was released Tuesday night in a last-minute ...
The Hill - 1d
These House Democrats bucked the White House on judges bill

More than two dozen Democrats approved a House bill that would create new judicial seats on Thursday despite President Biden's threat to veto the bill. California’s delegation had the most House ...
The Hill - Dec. 12