Government workers have already been told to prepare for a federal shutdown which would send millions of employees — and members of the military — into the holiday season without paychecks.

The U.S. House voted down a new spending bill endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump. Photo: Andrew Harnik/; C-SPAN WASHINGTON—House Republicans’ slimmed-down plan to try to avert a government shutdown was defeated in a hastily called vote Thursday,

Barring a pre-Christmas legislative miracle, the US government will plunge into a partial shutdown at midnight Friday after Musk tanked a year-end spending deal and the Trump doubled down with a demand for new debt spending authority that he never had a chance of getting through Congress.