As has become all too common, Congress has waited until the last moment to try to pass a bloated spending bill packed with all sorts of costly and unrelated provisions ahead of a partial government shutdown deadline on Friday.

President-elect Donald Trump may have killed that controversial funding measure with his voiced opposition on Wednesday but also simultaneously threw Congress for a loop by unexpectedly linking it with a separate debate over the nation's debt limit, Breitbart reported.

Trump called for Congress to increase, if not abolish, the debt limit before he begins his second term as president next month.

Trump opposes bloated spending bill, wants debt limit raised or abolished

On Wednesday, House leadership unveiled a 1,500+-page bill that would extend current levels of federal funding through March and avoid a partial government shutdown, but the measure sparked plenty of controversy as it also included a range of expensive and unrelated provisions like disaster relief funding, aid for farmers, countless "pork" projects, and preemptive limitations on the next administration's agenda.

Unsurprisingly, President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance issued a joint statement that lambasted Congress for "considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney. The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee -- which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas."

"Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025," the 2024 winners continued. "The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country."

The statement said, "The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed."

"Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration?" Trump and Vance asked. "Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want."

Trump would "lead the charge" to abolish the debt limit

According to NBC News, President-elect Trump reiterated that message Thursday morning during a phone interview in which he suggested that the complete abolishment of the national debt limit would be the "smartest thing [Congress] could do. I would support that entirely."

"The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge," he added while he also swatted down warnings of a "catastrophe" if the debt limit is breached by suggesting such an event could actually be "meaningless" and only have an impact "psychologically."

The national debt limit, per USA Today, is an arbitrary cap on how much the U.S. can borrow that has been lifted or suspended countless times when convenient to Congress and to avoid the possibility of the nation defaulting on its repayments to creditors.

It was last raised in 2021 as part of a fiscal standoff and was simply suspended last year in a deal reached between President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) but is scheduled to go back into effect on Jan. 1, which would likely place constraints on the full implementation of Trump's and the GOP's policy agenda.

Johnson pulls spending bill, considering a "Plan B" option

Meanwhile, The Hill reported that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) apparently bowed to the concerted opposition of numerous House Republicans, President-elect Trump and VP-elect Vance, and influential outsiders like tech billionaire Elon Musk in deciding to withdraw the weighty spending package from consideration.

He is now considering offering a "Plan B" that consists of nothing more than a "clean" continuation of current funding levels through March with no additional provisions, and it is unclear how, or even if, Trump's call for action on the debt limit might be incorporated into that plan.