US House fails to pass funding plan to avert looming government shutdown

The House of Representatives has failed to pass a revamped funding plan backed by President-elect Donald Trump to avoid a government shutdown looming Friday night.Almost three dozen Republicans joined Democrats to vote against Trumps sudden demands and the quick fix cobbled together by GOP leaders. The bill fell 174-235, failing to earn even a majority of votes.The vote failed after House Republicans quickly released text of the new bill Thursday, which contained provisions significantly slimmed-down compared to the prior deal. The continuing resolution would have funded agencies through March 14, provided more than $100 billion to areas affected by recent disasters, extended the Farm Bill and certain health care policies and offered economic assistance to farmers. The measure, per Trump's request, would also have suspended the debt ceiling for two years.The bill that failed on Thursday largely resembled the earlier version that Trump and Elon Musk had blasted as a wasteful giveaway to Democrats.Trump had thwarted a previous funding deal that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson had struck with Democrats.Democrats say Republicans will own the consequences of the government shutdown since Trump and Musk blew up a funding deal GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson had proposed.They blasted the bill as a cover for a budget-busting tax cut that would largely benefit wealthy backers such as Musk, the world's richest person, while saddling the country with trillions of dollars in additional debt.