What Democrats Should Demand to Help the GOP Escape a Shutdown Crisis

Hakeem Jeffries not in a mood to help Mike Johnson get his ox out of the ditch, but he may have a price for doing so. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

As recently as the morning of December 18, Democrats in Congress and in the Biden administration were reasonably satisfied with a stopgap spending agreement they had negotiated with House Speaker Mike Johnson to avoid a December 20 government shutdown. With the bill expected to pass after some carping and posturing from conservatives, the Democrats went back to preparing for the very new power configuration that’s coming in Washington when Republicans take over the Senate (on January 3) and the White House (on January 20).

Then all hell broke loose.

Elon Musk, incoming co-leader of the unofficial but insanely ambitious budget-slashing DOGE initiative and world’s richest man, began a social media campaign trashing the stopgap bill as a representation of runaway spending. Before the end of the day, Donald Trump himself had piled on, opposing the bill his minions had likely approved and then demanding a “clean” stopgap bill with no concessions to the Democrats while also including a debt-limit increase, suspension, or abolition. This new demand, just two days before a government shutdown, threw Republicans — particularly the House Freedom Caucus types who routinely oppose any spending bill without deep cuts and anything like a debt-limit relief measure — for a loop. The one thing that became immediately clear is that the bill Trump is demanding immediately cannot become law without a lot of cooperation from the opposition party. After all, Democrats still control the Senate and the White House. And they cannot be expected to just salute and throw away the concessions they wrung from Johnson over months of negotiations. More generally, why would they want to help Republicans out of a completely self-inflicted crisis? The GOP won the 2024 elections, after all; let Americans get an immediate taste of what that’s like!

To be clear, the Democrat closest to the fire that consumed the stopgap spending deal, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, immediately scoffed at the suggestion he come to Johnson’s rescue, blaming Republicans for suddenly abandoning a “bipartisan agreement that they themselves negotiated” and engineering a “reckless” government shutdown. This quickly became the party line throughout Washington. But aside from enjoying the Republican disarray, Democrats also quickly realized they might have some leverage they will likely lose very soon. In particular, Trump’s desire to get rid of the regular fights over debt-limit increases and suspensions is something many Democrats have long shared; indeed, debt-limit fights had, for the most part, been a Republican staple for demagoguing against Big Government spending, deficits and debt, and forcing concessions from the other side of the aisle.

So as Politico Playbook reported, this was one Trump demand Democrats did not reject out of hand:

A host of rank-and-file Democrats said their attention had been piqued by Trump’s call for the elimination of the debt ceiling after years of arguing themselves that it should be scrapped.

What they are saying: Said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), “For years I have urged my colleagues for years to permanently eliminate the debt ceiling, which has never reduced our national debt,” Beyer wrote on X. “Let’s abolish the debt limit for good.” Added Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also on X: “Congress should terminate the debt limit and never again govern by hostage taking.”

Is that one point of agreement enough for Democrats to get Johnson’s ox out of the ditch? Not unless something like, or even better than, the discarded spending agreement is part of the deal. While Musk’s revolt against the agreement was focused on alleged excessive spending and “pork,” Trump himself only seemed to care about the debt-limit issue. So it might make sense for Democrats to drive a very hard deal on spending and let Trump claim victory on his effort to force both parties to do what he wanted. It’s likely some deficit hawks in Trump’s camp won’t like it, but they’re probably not going to rebel against the MAGA leader. Even Musk would probably bend the knee. Aside from the fact that he knows little about the details of government spending, the DOGE edgelord has had his fun showing his grassroots clout, which he can save for more important occasions going forward.

If Trump won’t accept the kind of deal Democrats can live with, then let him see whether he can get a spending bill with a debt-limit increase through the Republican Congress that will convene on January 3 without any Democratic help. For all the chortling in MAGA-land about the prospect of an extended government shutdown, these destructive stalemates are actually very unpopular, so Trump and his party will have an interest doing something to prevent or mitigate the damage. After all, it’s their federal government now — or it will be very soon.