Legislators in the US Congress are working against the clock to approve a measure that prevents a partial government shutdown and allows thousands of federal workers to receive their salaries in the middle of the Christmas season.
The United States Congress tried on Friday to avoid a partial government shutdownhours after more than three dozen Republicans rejected President-elect Donald Trump's request to use the measure to raise the country's debt limit.
The Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, was trying to chart a path that could be approved by both his chamber, with narrow Republican control; as by the Senate, with a Democratic majority; as Friday's midnight funding deadline approached.
“We have a plan,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol on Friday. “We hope to vote this morning.”
Conservative Republicans on Thursday rejected Trump's demand to lift the debt limit, which could add trillions more to the government's $36 billion in debt.
Trump, who will take office in a month, suddenly raised his tonecalling for a five-year suspension of the US debt ceiling, even though members of his party's right flank opposed an earlier two-year extension.
“Congress must abolish or extend the ridiculous debt ceiling until 2029. Without this, we should never reach an agreement,” Trump wrote in a post on his social networks shortly after one in the morning.
On Wednesday, Trump and his ally Elon Musk, the world's richest person, spoke out against an earlier bipartisan deal, and on Thursday night a hastily revised alternative backed by Trump failed by 174 votes in favor and 235 in favor. against.