J.D. Vance Tees Off On Democrats Over Looming Shutdown: ‘Bullsh*t’

Hours after the spending agreement in the House of Representatives was unsuccessful, Vice President-elect JD Vance convened with Speaker Mike Johnson and several other Republican members on Thursday evening. Vance and a select group of Republican lawmakers gathered in Johnson’s office to discuss government funding and the looming shutdown deadline set for Friday. As of Friday morning, the likelihood of a shutdown remains uncertain, as does the course of action Republicans will take.

“Mr. Vance, will you agree to any arrangement that does not involve an increase in the debt limit?” a reporter inquired while Vance was walking down the corridor.

“Let me be clear,” Vance responded sharply, “I will state this: Even with a clean continuing resolution, the Democrats chose to shut down the government because they did not want to provide the president with any negotiating power during his first term or the initial year of his second. Furthermore, they seem more inclined to destabilize the government and engage in global censorship issues. They have initiated a request for a shutdown, and I believe they will follow through with it.”

As a multitude of reporters continued to shout questions regarding the spending bill and the Republicans’ next steps, Vance opted to depart.

It is noteworthy that the House of Representatives turned down President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal aimed at preventing a partial government shutdown on Thursday night.Congress is approaching a partial shutdown as the deadline looms at the end of Friday.

Although the bill required a two-thirds majority in the House for passage, it failed to secure even a simple majority. Only two Democrats supported the proposal alongside the majority of Republicans, while 38 Republicans defied Trump and voted against it.

The bill was defeated with a vote tally of 174 to 235.

This development follows two days of turmoil in Congress, where lawmakers engaged in disputes regarding the future of federal spending, a contention that involved Trump and his associates, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

In the meantime, the national debt has surpassed $36 trillion, and the deficit has exceeded $1.8 trillion.

The legislation was quickly assembled on Thursday after GOP hardliners, led by Musk and Ramaswamy, opposed an earlier bipartisan agreement that included several extraneous policy provisions and would have delayed the federal funding deadline until March 14.

Although it is significantly shorter than its 1,547-page predecessor, the new 116-page bill still addresses various important issues unrelated to the continuation of government operations.

The most recent version of the agreement, which Trump had endorsed during his campaign, included a suspension of the debt ceiling and an extension of the federal funding deadline to March 14.

It proposed maintaining the debt ceiling for two years, until January 2027, and deferring that debate until after the 2026 congressional midterm elections.

The revised package allocated nearly $110 billion in disaster relief for Americans impacted by storms Milton and Helene, along with provisions for the reconstruction of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which sustained damage from a barge earlier this year.The revised second-round measure excluded a proposal aimed at revitalizing RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., as well as the first salary increase for congressional lawmakers since 2009.

Additionally, the language of the amended bill was considerably condensed, reducing its length from 1,547 pages to merely 116.

“Tonight, all Republicans, along with Democrats, should support this bill for the benefit of our nation,” Trump stated on Truth Social.

Nevertheless, the bill encountered resistance even before the legislative text was made available to the public.

Democrats expressed their outrage towards Johnson for breaching their initial bipartisan agreement, vocally opposing the plan with shouts of “Hell no” during their closed-door conference meeting on Thursday evening.