US govt shutdown looms as Trump rejects spending Bill

The US Congress has two days to avert a partial government shutdown after Republican President-elect Donald Trump rejected a bipartisan deal late on Dec 18 and demanded lawmakers also raise the nation's debt ceiling before he takes office in January 2025.

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WASHINGTON -

Trump pressured his fellow Republicans in Congress to reject a stopgap Bill to keep the government funded past the deadline of midnight on Dec 20.

Absent congressional action, the US government will begin a partial shutdown on Dec 21 that would disrupt everything from air travel to law enforcement in the days leading up to the Christmas holiday.

The bipartisan deal reached on Dec 17 would have extended funding to March 14.

Trump warned that Republicans who vote for the current legislative package could have trouble getting re-elected because they will face primary challenges inside their own party.

"Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be primaried," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

If it were to materialize, it would be the first government shutdown since one that extended from December 2018 into 2019, during Trump's first four-year White House term.