Vice President-elect JD Vance had some harsh words for the majority of House Democrats after they largely voted against a slimmed-down version of a continuing resolution to keep the government open ahead of a Friday deadline, when federal agencies will run out of operating funds.

Vance met with Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans on Thursday night, hours after the trimmed spending deal failed in the House of Representatives. Vance was in Johnson’s office along with a handful of Republican lawmakers to discuss government funding and Friday’s looming shutdown deadline. I

t’s unclear as of Friday morning what Republicans will do or if a shutdown is inevitable.

When Vance was walking down the hallway, a reporter asked, “Mr. Vance, will you accept any deal that does not include a debt limit increase?”

The VP-elect and former U.S. senator shot back, “Look, I’ll say one thing. The Democrats just voted to shut down the government, even though we had a clean CR, because they didn’t want to give the president negotiating leverage during his first term — during the first year of his new term. And number two, because they would rather shut down the government and fight for global censorship bullsh*t. They’ve asked for a shutdown and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to.”

WATCH:

"The democrats voted to shut down the government, rejecting a clean CR to deny the president negotiating leverage. They’d rather shut it down to fight for global censorship bullshit." – VP elect JD Vance#BREAKING #governmentshutdownpic.twitter.com/2aFnjbYaeS

— Target Reporter (@Target_Reporter) December 20, 2024

The bill failed to secure even a simple majority in the House, falling short of the two-thirds needed for passage. A total of 38 Republicans defied Trump and voted against the measure, while two Democrats joined most Republicans in supporting it.

The final vote was 174 to 235. This outcome followed two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers debated the path forward on federal spending—a fight that also drew in Trump and his allies, Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk.

Johnson (R-LA) may have one of the toughest jobs in Washington right now, but President-elect Donald Trump has offered him a lifeline.

If the Louisiana lawmaker can act “decisively and tough” and overcome “all the traps being set by Democrats,” Trump predicted he would “easily remain Speaker” in the next Congress.