In the United States, the threat of a shutdown increases after the rejection of the budget text supported by Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s gamble on the budget did not pass. The American House of Representatives rejected, Thursday, December 19, the new text presented by the Republicans and supported by the president-elect. This bill, which aims to finance federal operations and thus avoid the paralysis of the federal administration – the shutdown – was drawn up urgently after the abandonment of the initial agreement between Republicans and Democrats that the future tenant of the White House had torpedoed Thursday by issuing virulent criticism.

The new version presented – 116 pages instead of 1,500 – had to obtain two thirds of the votes in favor to be adopted. She did not even reach a simple majority, having gathered 174 votes for and 235 against, while the Republicans have a majority in the lower house.

After the announcement that there would be no further vote on Thursday evening, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, promised that elected officials would “come together and find another solution”. But the speaker is being pressed on the one hand by the Democrats to return to the negotiated agreement, and on the other by certain conservative elected officials who are refusing outright any text that does not include a budget cut.

A setback for Donald Trump and Elon Musk

Time is running out before the fateful hour of midnight on Friday evening. Without a validated budget agreement, the paralysis of federal public services would notably lead to the technical unemployment of hundreds of thousands of civil servants, the freezing of several social benefits or even the closure of certain daycare centers.

Thursday’s result is a setback for Donald Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, who lashed out against the first compromise that Republicans and Democrats had reached to avoid an unpopular shutdown over the Christmas holidays. Shortly before the vote, Donald Trump announced, on his Truth Social platform, “SUCCESS in Washington!” » due to the development of the new plan which would allow the government to operate for three more months. “A very good deal for the American people”he greeted.

But the Republicans, who have spent the last twenty-four hours negotiating largely among themselves to develop this new bill, encountered resistance from thirty-eight of their representatives who joined the “no” vote of the Democrats, for their part, reluctant to satisfy Donald Trump. The leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, had expressed his opposition to this proposal, “not serious” et “laughable” according to him.

The change of heart caused on Wednesday by the criticism of the future president had taken elected officials by surprise and given an overview of Act II of the Trump presidency, even before the Republican took office on January 20, 2025. With a style similar to his first mandate, not bothering with conventions, even if it means causing a certain chaos.

All encouraged by his new ally, Elon Musk. “Kill the text!” »had launched the boss of Tesla, on his social network The richest man in the world then said he supported the Republicans’ new proposal which notably included a provision wanted by Donald Trump: an extension of the deadline on the debt ceiling to January 2027.

“Here we are again in chaos”

The future president had in fact expressed his virulent opposition to the first agreement in part because of the absence of such a provision in the text. The United States has the particularity of regularly coming up against a legal constraint concerning its credit capacity: this debt ceiling, i.e. their maximum amount of debt, must be formally raised or suspended by Congress.

A suspension decided in 2023 expires at the beginning of January and the United States should reach the ceiling in June. Donald Trump therefore declared on Wednesday that he wanted to avoid this “vicious trap” put in place, according to him, by the Democrats.

The White House spoke out against the new text before the vote in Congress. “Republicans are following the orders of their billionaire donors at the expense of hard-working Americans”criticized President Joe Biden’s spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre.

“Here we are again in chaos,” said House Democratic leader Katherine Clark, who detailed the damage a shutdown would do to Americans. “And for what? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, “We won’t do this deal, and Donald Trump followed.” »she castigated.