Johnson hits tiebreaking 3, scores 15 of his 33 points in the 4th as Nets rally to beat Raptors

TORONTO (AP) — Cam Johnson hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and finished with 33 points as the Brooklyn Nets overcame a 10-point deficit and beat the Toronto Raptors 101-94 on Thursday night.

Brooklyn’s Nic Claxton was ejected with 8:46 left in the second after throwing the ball into the stands. Claxton scored seven points in 11 minutes. Nets assistant Juwan Howard prevented Claxton from throwing a cushion before the center left Brooklyn’s bench.

Johnson scored 15 points in the fourth as the Nets won for the second time in eight games.

Ben Simmons and Shake Milton each scored 12 points, and Noah Clowney had 11 for the Nets, who trailed 76-66 late in the third.

Toronto’s Scottie Barnes returned after missing the past two games due to a sprained right ankle, finishing with 16 points in 36 minutes.

Ochai Agbaji led the Raptors with 20 points, and Gradey Dick added 19 as Toronto’s losing streak reached six.

Raptors center Jakob Poeltl remained out after leaving Monday’s loss to Chicago because of a strained left groin. RJ Barrett sat due to illness, and Davion Mitchell was unavailable because of a strained right shoulder.

Nets: Barnes scored to put the Raptors up 90-88 with 2:46 left, but Johnson answered with 11 straight points as Brooklyn took a 99-90 lead with 23 seconds remaining.

Raptors: Toronto’s starting lineup of Barnes, Agbaji, Dick, Jonathan Mogbo and Ja’Kobe Walter was the youngest in team history, with an average age of 22 years, 187 days.

After Toronto’s Jamal Shead missed a 3, Simmons grabbed the rebound and passed to Thomas for the decisive 3-pointer.

Toronto shot 7 for 11 from 3-point range in the third, but went 1 for 10 from distance in the fourth.

Brooklyn hosts Utah on Saturday, while Toronto hosts Houston on Sunday.

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Brooklyn Nets guard Tyrese Martin (13) battles for the ball against Toronto Raptors forward Chris Boucher, left, and Raptors guard Ochai Agbaji (30) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) slam dunks the ball past Brooklyn Nets forward Noah Clowney (21) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Brooklyn Nets forward Cameron Johnson, center, battles for the ball against Toronto Raptors guards Ja'Kobe Walter (14) and Gradey Dick (1) during first-half NBA basketball game action in Toronto, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Raptors guard Ochai Agbaji (30) drives the the net against Brooklyn Nets forward Noah Clowney (21) during first-half NBA basketball game action in Toronto, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Raptors guard Gradey Dick (1) scores past Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton (33) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Raptors guard Gradey Dick (1) goes up to score past Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton, second from left, during first-half NBA basketball game action in Toronto, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) tries to drive past Brooklyn Nets forward Noah Clowney (21) during first-half NBA basketball game action in Toronto, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Brooklyn Nets forward Jalen Wilson (22) drives past Toronto Raptors forward Chris Boucher, right, during second-half NBA basketball game action in Toronto, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day before a potential government shutdown, the House resoundingly rejected President-elect Donald Trump's new plan Thursday to fund operations and suspend the debt ceiling, as Democrats and dozens of Republicans refused to accommodate his sudden demands.

In a hastily convened evening vote punctuated by angry outbursts over the self-made crisis, the lawmakers failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage — but House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared determined to reassess, before Friday's midnight deadline.

“We're going to regroup and we will come up with another solution, so stay tuned,” Johnson said after the vote. The cobbled-together plan didn’t even get a majority, with the bill failing 174-235.

The outcome proved a massive setback for Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, who rampaged against Johnson's bipartisan compromise, which Republicans and Democrats had reached earlier to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown.

It provides a preview of the turbulence ahead when Trump returns to the White House with Republican control of the House and Senate. During his first term, Trump led Republicans into the longest government shutdown in history during the 2018 Christmas season, and interrupted the holidays in 2020 by tanking a bipartisan COVID-relief bill and forcing a do-over.

Hours earlier Thursday, Trump announced “SUCCESS in Washington!” in coming up with the new package which would keep government running for three more months, add $100.4 billion in disaster assistance including for hurricane-hit states, and allow more borrowing through Jan. 30, 2027.

"Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal,” Trump posted.

But Republicans, who had spent 24 hours largely negotiating with themselves to cut out the extras conservatives opposed and come up with the new plan, ran into a wall of resistance from Democrats, who were in no hurry to appease demands from Trump — or Musk.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were sticking with the original deal with Johnson and called the new one “laughable.”

“It's not a serious proposal,” Jeffries said as he walked to Democrats' own closed-door caucus meeting. Inside, Democrats were chanting, “Hell, no!”

All day, Johnson had been fighting to figure out how to meet Trump's almost impossible demands — and keep his own job — while federal offices are being told to prepare to shutter operations.

The new proposal whittled the 1,500-page bill to 116 pages and dropped a number of add-ons — notably the first pay raise for lawmakers in more than a decade, which could have allowed as much as a 3.8% bump. That drew particular scorn as Musk turned his social media army against the bill.

Trump said early Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” in coming up with a new plan to also raise the debt limit, a stunning request just before the Christmas holidays that has put the beleaguered speaker in a bind.

And if not, the president-elect warned of trouble ahead for Johnson and Republicans in Congress.

“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.

The tumultuous turn of events, coming as lawmakers were preparing to head home for the holidays, sparks a familiar reminder of what it's like in Trump-run Washington.

Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance tried to blame Democrats, though rank-and-file Republicans helped sink Trump's plan.

“They’ve asked for a shutdown,” Vance said of Democrats. “That’s exactly what they’re going to get.”

For Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of a Jan. 3 House vote to remain speaker, Trump's demands left him severely weakened, forced to abandon his word with Democrats and work into the night to broker the new approach.

Trump’s allies even floated the far-fetched idea of giving Musk the speaker’s gavel, since the speaker is not required to be a member of the Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted she was “open” to the idea.

Democrats were beside themselves, seeing this as a fitting coda after one of the most unproductive congressional sessions in modern times.

“Here we are once again in chaos,” said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who detailed the harm a government shutdown would cause Americans. “And what for? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, ‘We’re not doing this deal, and Donald Trump followed along.’”

As he left the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, "Now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement.”

The debate in the House chamber grew heated as lawmakers blamed each other for the mess.

At one point, Rep. Marc Molinaro, who was presiding, slammed the speaker’s gavel with such force that it broke.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Trump was publicly turning on those who opposed him.

One hardline Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, drew Trump’s ire for refusing to along with the plan. Roy in turn told his own GOP colleagues they had no self-respect for piling onto the nation’s debt.

“It’s shameful!” Roy thundered, standing on the Democratic side of the aisle and pointing at his fellow Republicans.

The slimmed-down package does include federal funds to rebuild Baltimore’s collapsed Key Bridge, but dropped a separate land transfer that could have paved the way for a new Washington Commanders football stadium.

It abandons a long list of other bipartisan bills that had support as lawmakers in both parties try to wrap work for the year. It extends government funds through March 14.

Adding an increase in the debt ceiling to what had been a bipartisan package is a show-stopper for Republicans who want to slash government and routinely vote against more borrowing. Almost three dozen Republicans voted against it.

While Democrats have floated their own ideas in the past for lifting or even doing away with the debt limit caps — Sen. Elizabeth Warren had suggested as much — they appear to be in no bargaining mood to save Johnson from Trump — even before the president-elect is sworn into office.

The current debt limit expires Jan. 1, 2025, and Trump wants the problem off the table before he joins the White House.

Musk, in his new foray into politics, led the charge. The wealthiest man in the world used his social media platform X to amplify the unrest, and GOP lawmakers were besieged with phone calls to their offices telling them to oppose the plan.

Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican and senior appropriator, said the bipartisan bill's collapse signaled what's ahead in the new year, “probably be a good trailer right now for the 119th Congress.”

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget had provided initial communication to agencies about possible shutdown planning last week, according to an official at the agency.

Johnson left the Capitol late Thursday night with only two words when asked about a path forward.

“We’ll see,” he replied.

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Stephen Groves, Farnoush Amiri and Matt Brown contributed to this story.

FILE—Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., joined from left by Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., leaves a news conference after presenting his final version of an interim pending bill to his caucus, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. President-elect Donald Trump has now abruptly rejected the bipartisan plan to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown. Instead, he's telling House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to essentially renegotiate — days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an amended interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. The vote failed to pass. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE—Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., takes questions from reporters after presenting his final version of an interim pending bill to his caucus, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. President-elect Donald Trump has now abruptly rejected the bipartisan plan to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown. Instead, he's telling House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to essentially renegotiate — days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE—Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., meets with reporters after presenting his final version of an interim pending bill to his caucus, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. President-elect Donald Trump has now abruptly rejected the bipartisan plan to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown. Instead, he's telling House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to essentially renegotiate — days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., center, joined from left by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., talks at a news conference after presenting his final version of an interim spending bill to his caucus, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. President-elect Donald Trump has now abruptly rejected the bipartisan plan to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown. Instead, he's telling House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to essentially renegotiate — days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)