Washington—President-elect Donald Trump On Thursday, he said he would rather House Republicans refuse to fund the federal government than they support a financing bill that does not include raising the debt ceiling.

Trump: ‘Republican obstructionists must be eliminated’ release, Referring to House Republicans who have refused to support Trump’s desire to raise the debt ceiling. He specifically singled out Texas Rep. Chip Roy, accusing him of “performing his usual pattern of standing in the way of another great Republican victory.”

“It would be better for our country to shut down for a while than to agree to what the Democrats want to impose on us,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social.

House Republican leaders on Thursday ran out of time to avert a partial government shutdown that began late Friday night. trump card He and his allies struck a compromise bill to fund the government until March.

Top members of the party spent much of Thursday in and out of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office, with discussions focused on finding a way to keep the federal government open while meeting Trump’s last-minute demands that any Agreement to provide funding to the federal government. The government also raised the debt ceiling.

However, even if House Republicans are able to decide on funding to appease Trump and the warring factions in the Republican caucus with language, any bill they pass would still need to be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate before President Joe Biden signs it into law law.

Meanwhile, outside of leadership talks, members of the House and Senate are increasingly concerned that Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, will not be able to find a path forward in time to avoid the possible furloughs of tens of thousands of federal employees across the country. Their wages could be delayed less than a week before Christmas.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports: “A government shutdown doesn’t solve anything. It doesn’t do anything for us. Save money. It just creates unnecessary confusion.”

“In order to pass anything, it really needs to have bipartisan support,” he said. “The Senate will at least need Democrats, but the House will probably need Democrats to support a continuing resolution,” he said.

Thursday’s tensions came after the public failure Wednesday of a massively negotiated funding bill that would have required Democratic votes to pass the narrowly divided House.

Trump’s formal objection The bill was introduced late Wednesday after billionaire Republican megadonors Elon Musk Opposition to the bill continued throughout the day, gradually making it politically impossible for much of the House Republican conference to support it.

“Raising the debt ceiling is not a good thing, but we would rather do it under Biden’s watch,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday announcing his opposition to Johnson’s original bill.

“If Democrats aren’t going to work together on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they’re going to do that in June while we’re in office? Let’s have this debate now. We should pass a streamlined spending bill , this bill will not give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats what they want,” Trump said.

The debt ceiling has become a recurring and heated debate in Washington every few years, and one that Trump is keen to avoid at the start of his second term.

But his demands and Thursday’s deadlock may have gone too far for Johnson, who now faces a potential threat to his position as speaker, which is due to be put to a vote early next year.