The US Congress has two days to avoid a government shutdown after President-elect Donald Trump rejected a bipartisan deal late last night and insisted lawmakers raise the debt ceiling before he takes office in January, Reuters reported.
Trump has pressed his Republican colleagues in Congress to reject the text agreed with Democrats, which was supposed to secure government funding after a deadline of midnight on Friday.
Without an agreement in Congress, a partial shutdown of federal agencies will begin on Saturday, affecting everything from air travel to law enforcement in the days before Christmas. The text agreed upon by Republicans and Democrats would have extended funding until March 14.
Trump warned that Republicans in Congress who support the legislative package will have a hard time getting reelected because they will face problems at the party level.
If a government shutdown begins, it will be the first since the shutdown began in December 2018 and continued into early 2019, during Trump's first term in the White House.