House GOP leaders scramble for Plan B after Trump, Musk lead conservative fury against spending bill

House GOP leaders are working toward a backup plan after an initial bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown on Friday was killed by an avalanche of conservative opposition.

The legislation angered conservatives in both the House and Senate, as well as President-elect Trump's pick to co-chair his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk.

As Musk called for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats, Trump's presidential transition team released an official joint statement by Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance opposing the initial iteration of the deal.

As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down.

Additionally, the federal government's budget deficit in the recently concluded fiscal year totaled $1.834 trillion, ranking the third largest in U.S. history.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., confirmed to reporters that the deal was dead while leaving the Capitol on Wednesday night.

"There's still a lot of negotiations and conversations going on but there's no new agreement," Scalise said. He said he did not speak with Trump "directly" all day.

The bill was expected to get a vote sometime Wednesday afternoon, but a planned round of late afternoon votes was canceled. Instead, senior Republicans are huddling in the speaker's office to chart a path forward, less than 24 hours after the legislation was unveiled.

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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told reporters while leaving Johnson's office in the early evening, "There will be a new CR likely tomorrow. They are negotiating right now. But there will be no votes this evening."

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told reporters a short while later he anticipated a "skinny" CR without disaster aid or agricultural subsidies.

It came after GOP critics of the spending bill spent much of the day attacking Johnson's handling of the issue.

As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down.

The 1,547-page bill is a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024 government funding levels, aimed at giving lawmakers more time to agree on funding the rest of FY 2025 by the Friday deadline.

It’s the second such extension, called a continuing resolution (CR), since FY 2024 ended on Sept. 30.

In addition to funding the government through March 14, the bill includes more than $100 billion in disaster aid to help Americans affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene. It also includes an $10 billion in economic relief for farmers, as well as health care reform measures and a provision aimed at revitalizing Washington, D.C.’s RFK stadium and its surrounding campus.

Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus said they felt blindsided by what they saw as unrelated policy riders being added to the bill in last-minute negotiations.

Several GOP lawmakers granted anonymity to speak freely said Johnson would see challenges to his speakership bid in early January over the matter.

But Johnson defended the deal on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday morning.

"When we start the new Congress in January, when Republicans are in control … we're going to be able to scale back the size and scope of government. But before we get to that point, remember right now, we only control one half of one third of the federal government. Remember, Democrats are still in charge of the Senate and the White House. So, what we've done is the conservative play call here," he said.

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Opponents of the legislation include Elon Musk, who posted on X, "Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!"

He later called on Republicans to leverage a partial government shutdown. 

"'Shutting down' the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill," he suggested.

Trump and Vance called for Republicans to reject the deal and instead opt for a CR paired with an increase in the U.S. debt limit, which was suspended until January 2025.

"Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but 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. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want," the statement said.

Trump later said on Truth Social that any Republican who supported a CR without a debt limit increase deserved to be primaried.

Scalise signaled it was being considered but would not commit to any plan.

"We've been having some conversations about the debt limit as it relates to the CR, so those are ongoing conversations," he said.

But simply bowing to his right flank may not get Johnson out of the woods, with Democrats warning him to not renege on their deal.

"House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote on X.

Johnson was always likely to need Democratic help to pass a CR, given his slim margins in the House and widespread opposition to short-term funding extensions within the GOP.

But it's not clear if the number of Democrats willing to break ranks will offset that Republican opposition. 

House leaders will also have to decide whether to put the bill through regular order, which will include a House Rules Committee vote followed by a House-wide procedural vote before lawmakers can weigh in on the measure itself. Or they could bypass that and rush the bill onto the House floor in exchange for raising the threshold for passage to two-thirds rather than a simple majority.

All the while, the clock is ticking until the partial government shutdown deadline at the end of Friday.