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CNN International: Funding Bill Fails as Trump, Musk Divide Republicans; Mangione Faces Four Federal Charges; Capitol Hill Chaos as Lawmakers Race to Avoid a Government Shutdown; Police Investigating How Natalie Rupnow Got Guns; U.S. Envoy in Damascus to Meet with Interim Government; James Sets New Record for Time Played in Regular Season. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired December 20, 2024 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and this is the CNN Newsroom. Just ahead, the U.S. government is just hours away from a potential shut down. We look at how this happened and what potentially comes next.

The U.N. says 100,000 Syrians have returned home since the Assad Regime collapsed, but CNN hears from those not sure whether it is safe to do so, and thousands of Amazon drivers go on strike. Will it impact Christmas deliveries?

The U.S. government is just hours away from a potential shutdown, and now lawmakers are scrambling to find a solution. A Republican bill to fund the government failed to pass the House Thursday night when dozens of Republicans joined most Democrats in rejecting it, that bill was Plan B, after Elon Musk helped tank an earlier bipartisan agreement that had been negotiated by the House Speaker.

Donald Trump soon jumped on board with a demand that lawmakers raised the debt ceiling, and suddenly, Republicans, who vehemently opposed a debt limit increase, were stuck between keeping to their convictions or falling in behind Musk and Trump. In the end, they chose their convictions. We get more now from CNN's Manu Raju.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, even though Donald Trump tried to pressure Republicans to fall in line behind this 11th hour effort to avoid a government shutdown, he got bucked by 38 members of his own party, as well as Democrats, who voted in masse against this proposal to avoid a government shutdown.

One big reason why it included a provision to suspend the national debt limit for two years. Remember, that issue of a debt limit was a complex, complicated issue that typically, Congress tends weeks, if not months, to try to negotiate. No one wants to vote really to raise the borrowing limit in the United States.

And Donald Trump does not want this to be part of his first-year agenda. So, he wants to take it off the table now. He's saying, deal with it now, and so he doesn't have to worry about when he's president. But there's a problem. There are Republicans in the ranks who say that they will never vote for a debt limit increase, especially if it does not have spending cuts.

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