White House says gov’t shutdown would ‘create instability across the country’ as Trump pressures Republicans

WASHINGTON

The White House issued a stark warning to lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday evening, telling them a government shutdown would result in widespread instability across the country as President-elect Donald Trump attempts to scuttle a funding deal.

Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that a shutdown “would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones” during the holiday season and would “endanger the basic services Americans from veterans to Social Security recipients rely on.”

“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” Jean-Pierre said.

“President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect (J.D.) Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government, and they are threatening to do just that -- while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers,” she added.

Trump and Vance just hours earlier issued a lengthy statement in which they strongly opposed a bipartisan agreement to fund the government through March 14, saying the agreement, which took months to negotiate, is a “betrayal of our country.”

Trump insisted that many of the economic provisions in what is known as the continuing resolution be stripped, and the amount of money the government is allowed to borrow be raised.

“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great, but we’d rather do it on (President Joe) Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now,” he wrote on his proprietary social media platform, Truth Social.

“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is (Senate Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” he added.

The package includes billions of dollars in spending that Trump has interpreted as "Democrat giveaways" and he urged his fellow Republican Senators and Congressmen to shoot down the bill.

The proposed spending package includes $100 billion in disaster relief assistance for southeastern states devastated by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, $10 billion for economic aid to farmers and ranchers and $2 billion to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the state of Maryland after it collapsed on March 26.

It also includes a health care deal to reform the pharmaceutical industry to lower the cost of prescription drugs, proposed pay raises for lawmakers and a provision that could set the stage for the Washington Commanders National Football League (NFL) team to return to Washington, D.C. from their current stadium in Maryland.

Reports indicate that Republican House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, who initially gave the green light for the bipartisan deal, is weighing a backup agreement that would drop additional provisions that were negotiated in the original deal.

Lawmakers have until Friday night to reach an agreement.