- Thirty-eight House Republicans voted against the Trump-backed funding deal that included an increase to the debt ceiling.
- Trump threatened fiscally conservative Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, with a primary challenge for opposing the bill.
- Utah Reps. Blake Moore and John Curtis also voted against the continuing resolution with government funding set to expire at midnight.
President-elect Donald Trump clashed with more than three dozen fiscally conservative Republican lawmakers on Thursday after they tanked his proposal for Congress to pass a temporary funding deal that would increase how much the country can borrow without reducing how much the country spends.
One month before entering office, Trump jumped into the Christmas-season sprint to fund the government with a last-minute demand to replace the continuing resolution package painstakingly negotiated between himself, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leadership, with a slimmed down version that included lifting the debt ceiling limit for two years.
The Trump-endorsed Plan B package came to the House floor Thursday evening only to die a quick death at the hands of 197 Democrats and 38 Republicans who ensured that the bill fell far short of the two-thirds majority needed to fast-track a piece of legislation.
The Republican rebels who opposed the deal presented by their conference leader and party standard-bearer included two Utah lawmakers, Rep. Blake Moore, of Utah’s 1st Congressional District, and Sen.-elect John Curtis, of Utah’s 3rd, as well as several well-known members of the uncompromising House Freedom Caucus.
Two of them, Reps. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., and Bob Good, R-Va., are already on their way out of Congress after winding up on the wrong side of a Trump endorsement in 2024. Now several other House Freedom Caucus members, including Reps. Andy Biggs, Eli Crane and Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Chip Roy of Texas, might also be on their way to a Trump-backed primary challenge.
“Chip Roy is just another ambitious guy, with no talent,” Trump posted to his Truth Social account on Thursday. “By the way, how’s Bob Good doing? I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!”
Trump paired this message with a separate post saying that Roy “is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory — All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself.” The incoming president said of Roy and his fellow deficit hawks, “Republican obstructionists have to be done away with.”
Utah Sen. Mike Lee defends Chip Roy
Shortly after Trump challenged Roy’s political future, the Texas congressman said he would still not be supporting the temporary funding measure because it would allow the federal government to increase national debt by over $4 trillion in the future and would lead to over $100 billion in deficit spending — similar to Johnson’s previous package that was criticized for including political pet projects and a salary increase for lawmakers.
In a blistering floor speech on Thursday afternoon, Roy told his GOP colleagues they “never have an ounce of self-respect.”
“I’m absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go forward to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible,” Roy said.
When Roy was asked to respond to Trump’s critical Truth Social post, he told reporters, “We’re working right now on how to actually cut spending, which is what the voters sent me to Washington to do.”
On Thursday, Utah Sen. Mike Lee responded to a clip of Roy’s remarks: “I don’t know anyone in Congress who is wrong less.” And later posted, “There is not a more faithful advocate of conservative policy, constitutionally limited government, or MAGA principles than (Rep. Chip Roy.) President Trump will not have a more principled, hardworking ally than (Rep. Chip Roy.) If a more devoted advocate for the Constitution exists today, I have not met that person.”
Johnson came before his conference again on Friday morning — with government funding for nonessential functions set to expire at midnight — to propose a “clean” continuation of current spending levels until March and a vote to consider separate bills for disaster relief and farmer subsidies.
Late into the night on Thursday, Trump continued to call for an increase or the elimination of the debt ceiling because it could be an obstacle to legislation he hopes to pass during his next term.
Roy appeared on the “Glenn Beck Program” on Wednesday morning to say if a deal on the debt limit does not include significant reforms to reduce the nation’s debt, it will continue to find obstacles in himself and other fiscally conservative congressmen.
“Our job is to force and demand, ‘Guys, we need actually understanding of what the cuts will be,’ otherwise you’re asking us to accept a $5 trillion increase in our credit in exchange for nothing,” Roy said. “Our job is to force that change.”