The US government will shut down at 12.01am ET on Saturday unless Congress passes a stop-gap funding bill in time. But politics is rife and the consequences could include the suspension of many federal programs and workers compensation.
President-elect Donald Trump has already struck a bipartisan deal proposed by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, throwing Capitol Hill deeper into chaos. Now Johnson is scrambling to find a compromise that will please both Trump and his tumultuous party.
“Welcome back to the MAGA swamp,” Hakeem Jeffries, the president of the House Democrats, wrote on social media platform Bluesky on Friday.
Why is the US government on the verge of a shutdown?
Congress must pass spending each year to support the government—and pay the millions of workers who run it. Congressional squabbling over the budget means that agreement often comes down to the wire.
Lawmakers are supposed to pass the spending bill at the beginning of the fiscal year on October 1. But that legislation did not have enough support in the Republican-controlled House. So they passed a short-term funding measure known as a continuing resolution, extending the deadline to December 20.
The most important thing behind the conflict is that Republicans have a small majority in the House, so a few defects jeopardize any legislation proposed by the Speaker. Many of Trump's staunchest allies in the House opposed the funding bills.
This week, the main opposition came from outside Congress, when Trump, vice president-elect JD Vance and technology billionaire Elon Musk. he canceled the second contract that Johnson had agreed.
Trump attacked the deal for containing too many “recommendations” from Democrats, and made an explosive demand that any spending bill must raise or remove the debt ceiling, which limits how much the federal government can borrow.
A new Trump-backed bill that would have funded the government until mid-March was completely defeated in the House on Thursday, with nearly all Democrats and 38 Republicans voting against it. Johnson vowed to “come together” and put forward a new proposal on Friday.
What happens if the US government shuts down?
Without the bill, the government would not be able to pay millions of federal workers from its payroll.
It will immediately begin closing “non-essential” jobs, including national parks, environmental and food inspections and the Internal Revenue Service. Hundreds of thousands of workers could be laid off. During a 16-day strike in 2013, 850,000 public sector workers lost their jobs.
Services deemed essential, such as the military, law enforcement, border security, air traffic control and hospital treatment will continue, but government employees in those positions will not be paid until the spending bill is passed.
The last shutdown, during Trump's first term in 2018, lasted longer record 35 days. Trump and staunch Republicans in Congress have shown they have no problem repeating that.
“The government can shut down all the way until Jan. 20 as far as I'm concerned,” Republican firebrand congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X this week. “And WE MUST STAND WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO STOP THIS MADNESS!
What is Elon Musk's role?
Musk, Trump's nominee to lead the new administration, has been an outspoken critic of government overreach and played a key role in overseeing the first bipartisan bill.
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this wasteful spending should be voted out in 2 years!” Musk posted on his X on Wednesday. Trump then came out against the bill and it was quickly withdrawn.
Democrats have argued that this emphasizes the foreign influence that the richest man in the world has given to the new administration – a line of attack that tries to get under the president's skin.
“Elon Musk has Donald Trump in his vice,” said Dan Goldman, a Democratic congressman from New York on Thursday. “It's very clear that Elon Musk is now calling.”
Jeffery described the failed move on Thursday night as a “Musk-Johnson government debt shutdown”.
Does Trump want to be banned?
After blowing up the bipartisan deal, Trump said he prefers a shutdown before taking office, so he can put the blame squarely on Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress.
“If there is going to be a government shutdown, let it start now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20, under 'TRUMP'”, the president-elect wrote on his Social Truth platform on Friday. “This is a Biden problem that needs to be solved, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”
Trump renewed his claim on Friday that any deal must raise or remove the debt ceiling – a move that would give him a free hand on the budget when he returns to power next year.
“Congress needs to remove, or pass, maybe, by 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling. Without this, we don't have to make a deal,” Trump said in Social Truth. “Remember, the pressure is on who is President.”
Does this happen again in three months?
It can be. A doubling of the stopgap bill extends current government funding levels through March 14, but lawmakers could change that date in a third version.
No matter how long the funding agreement lasts, the fight will happen again when it expires – and it can be tough. However, the stopgap bill would give lawmakers more time to negotiate and craft a comprehensive spending deal, as opposed to another ongoing solution.
Another thing that may seem very different is the Speaker's self-identification. Johnson wants the support of lawmakers in his party when the House votes on the Speaker in January, but he faces the wrath of some Republicans over the second deal.
Rightwing Republicans have again threatened their leadership in the House over spending issues, including a rebellion that did not unseat Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023.
Additional reporting by Alex Rogers in Washington