The US Congress building in Washington DC. Photo: stock
The White House has criticised Republican politicians and president-elect Donald Trump as they push to shut down the US government this weekend.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre says the Republican party needs “to stop playing politics” with a bipartisan bill to fund government to March 2025.
“They will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” she says.
“President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect (JD) Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government.
“They are threatening to do just that while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centres,” she pointed out.
“A deal is a deal. Republicans should keep their word.”
The US Congress had been set to pass a bipartisan funding bill until Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk called for it to be scrapped.
US Congressman Steve Scalise, and the Republican House Majority Leader, indicated to local media on Wednesday (US time) that the bill was now dead.
The short-term funding bill needs to be passed by Congress by the end of week to prevent many federal government offices from closing, starting on Saturday.
The bill (which is known as a continuing resolution) is required because the US Congress never passed a budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which began on October 1.
BBC World News reports that unless Congress acts, government services ranging from the National Parks Service to Border Patrol will begin closing this weekend.
On social media, Trump threatened to help unseat “any Republican that would be so stupid as to” vote in favour of the current bill.
He and Vance also called for Congress to raise the debt ceiling, which determines how much the government can borrow to pay its bills and limit the bill to focus just on temporary spending and disaster relief.
The 1500-page bill included more than $110bn in emergency disaster relief and $30bn for farmers.
It also included the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009, federal funds to rebuild a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore, healthcare reforms, and provisions aimed at preventing hotels and live event venues from deceptive advertising.
The BBC reports that there have been 21 US government shutdowns or partial shutdowns in 50 years; the longest was during Trump’s first term when the government closed for 35 days.
