House Republicans failed to secure the majority votes needed Thursday on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown by week’s end, handing a decisive loss to President-elect Trump in an early test of his ability to unite Republicans in the chamber. The bill failed by a vote of 235-174, including 38 Republicans who voted down the legislation. The bill not only failed the method that allowed lawmakers to fast-track it with a two-thirds majority.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded off Thursday about Elon Musk’s influence over the spending drama on Capitol Hill. “If you’re just catching up: the Republican Party, taking orders from the world’s richest man, is on course to shut down the government over the holidays, stopping paychecks for our troops and nutrition benefits for low-income families just in time for Christmas,” the 2016 presidential candidate wrote on X.

A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.Congress is inching closer to the possibility of a partial shutdown, with the deadline coming at the end of Friday.The bill needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, but failed to even net a majority. Two Democrats voted with the majority of Republicans to pass the bill, while 38 GOP lawmakers bucked Trump to oppose it.

House Democrats are balking at the latest iteration of a spending plan that was released on Thursday by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.”The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious, it’s laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., indicated Democratic leadership would whip their members to vote “no” on the deal.Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

Presidents past and present have displayed breathtaking Christmas trees at the White House. Former President Benjamin Harrison is credited by the White House Historical Association as the first to display a Christmas tree in the White House, having placed one in the Second Floor Oval Room in 1889. That first known Christmas tree to be displayed in the White House was adorned with candles for Harrison’s grandchildren, according to the White House Historical Association.

The 1,547-page interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown is effectively dead. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has all but yanked the plan off the floor after President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance and Elon Musk torched the package to avoid a government shutdown this weekend and fund the government through March 14.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., while speaking at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., called out House Republicans for breaking a bipartisan agreement to fund the government and avoid a government shutdown, accusing them of hurting everyday Americans across the country.

President-elect Trump commented Wednesday that it was “too bad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was recently turned down for a leadership position on a House committee, prompting an amused response by the progressive politician. “Really too bad that AOC lost the Battle for the Leadership Seat in the Democrat Party,” Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social. “She should keep trying.

House GOP leaders are working toward a backup plan after an initial bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown on Friday was killed by an avalanche of conservative opposition.The legislation angered conservatives in both the House and Senate, as well as President-elect Trump’s pick to co-chair his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk.