Welcome to the online version of From the Political Bureauan evening newsletter with the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, senior political reporter Jonathan Allen writes that the battle over the government shutdown shows that Donald Trump is bringing chaos back to Washington before he even takes office. Plus, we have the latest on the House Republicans’ plan to avoid a shutdown.
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Trump supports new Republican plan to avoid government shutdown
By Scott Wong, Sahil Kapur, Julie Tsirkin and Syedah Asghar
House Republicans released a new spending bill Thursday to avert a looming government shutdown, just hours after the original bipartisan deal was torpedoed by President-elect Donald Trump.
The new bill, authored by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Republican leaders, has Trump’s support but appears to face opposition from Democrats who have not signed it. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the new proposal “laughable.”
The 116-page bill would fund the government through March 14, averting a shutdown that would begin at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. It would also extend the country’s debt limit through Jan. 30, 2027, in response to a key request from Trump. It also includes emergency relief money for recovery from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and an expansion of the farm bill.
Absent are provisions that had infuriated Trump and his right-wing allies, including cost-of-living increases for lawmakers and giving Washington, D.C. control of a stadium site that could be used by the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said he expected a vote on the bill later Thursday. If the measure passes the House of Representatives, it is unclear how the Democratic-led Senate will handle it.
Read the latest news about the impending shutdown here →
📊 Survey says: A review of historical polling by NBC News shows that lawmakers did not pay a high political price in previous government shutdowns. Read more →
The chaos agent in chief is back
By Jonathan Allen
Donald Trump is still a month away from his inauguration, but he is already turning Capitol Hill into a mosh pit.
There are, of course, a handful of Cabinet nominees who will test Senate Republicans’ loyalty to him. They drew the line at former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who withdrew from consideration for becoming attorney general and nevertheless will see an ethics report on his alleged misconduct made public.
More telling, Trump has hurled the government toward a shutdown by instructing Republicans on Wednesday not to vote for a stopgap funding bill backed by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
The truth is that the original bill was already in deep trouble, with conservatives aligned with the MAGA line clamoring to vote it down. Billionaire Elon Musk, who funded his own super PAC to help Trump win, stomped on the bill by threatening electoral retaliation against any Republican who dared support it. Only then, as defeat quickly became a foregone conclusion, did Trump stick a fork in and credit himself with cooking the meal.
He then approved a revised framework on Thursday afternoon. It remains to be seen whether the new plan will win the necessary votes in the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate, but Trump’s stamp of approval is an important step. He has been much more prominent in the discussions than the incumbent president, Joe Biden, and certainly has a more volatile character.
However it ends, the episode is a reminder of the chaos Trump brought to justice. To win a second term, he did not campaign on creating crises. He promised to reduce inflation, crack down on illegal immigration, impose tariffs, cut taxes and regulations, and spend less American money on foreign wars.
Some of his plans could spark systemic disruptions—the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, for example—but he refrained from selling himself as an agent seeking chaos for his own benefit.
Now Trump for the second term looks a little more like Trump for the first term.
None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who saw him serve as president the first time. Where others see dysfunction and danger in a crisis, Trump sees an opportunity to gain the upper hand.
In Trump’s book, the risks of chaos rarely outweigh the potential benefits. So buckle up, Washington.
🗞️Today’s top stories
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🛡️ Brace yourself for Trump 2.0: Lawyers and democracy advocates are beginning to build a national network to help defend and protect people who may be targeted by the Trump administration. Read more →
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✅ How he did it: Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania was the only Republican candidate for senator or governor to defeat a Democrat in a battleground state this year. In an interview with NBC News’ Allan Smith, he reflects on his victory and his next steps in the Senate. Read more →
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🗣️ Q&A: Politico spoke with Chris LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio, two architects of Trump’s winning 2024 campaign, about what their data showed in the final weeks of the race, why J.D. Vance was chosen as the No. 2 candidate for the GOP ticket, and how voters opposed watching the elections. president-elect more as a celebrity than as a politician. Read more →
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🚓 Within ICE operations: NBC News’ Gabe Guteirrez and Olympia Sonnier accessed a “targeted enforcement operation” with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, revealing the significant resources required to arrest a single undocumented immigrant and raising questions about how these efforts could be scaled up in the Trump administration. Read more →
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🍑 Another legal victory for Trump: A Georgia appeals court disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and dismissed her from prosecuting Trump and co-defendants in a case involving his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Read more →
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⚖️Sued: Former Florida Rep. David Rivera was indicted for allegedly working as a foreign agent, participating in a bribery scheme and money laundering. Read more →
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🗳️The Never Ending Elections: The Republican nominee for the race for the North Carolina Supreme Court is asking the court to throw out 60,000 ballots from the November election even as he trails the Democratic incumbent by just 734 votes. Read more →
For now, that all comes from the Political Bureau. If you have any feedback – like it or not – please email us at politicsnieuwsbrief@nbcuni.com
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
