It was the time of the government shutdown in Washington, and many people were abuzz throughout the House, most notably Elon Musk.
Lawmakers had expected things to go well into the holidays. They had a bipartisan agreement that would keep federal funding and bring everyone back to their districts happily.
But then they got a taste of what the next four years would be like, with Donald Trump back in the White House and Musk, the world’s richest man, wielding tremendous power over the political process.
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On Wednesday, Mr. Trump effectively killed a funding bill put together by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) with support from Mr. Musk. The bill is a 1,500-page bill packed with byproducts of the traditional horse-trading that generally defines Congressional trading.
Conservative Republicans and right-wing commentators decried the plan as the kind of status quo in Washington politics that President Trump sought to end during his campaign. But as negotiations continued, the president-elect remained on the sidelines.
The plan was doomed late Wednesday, with President Trump slamming it as “ridiculous and extraordinarily expensive.”
Less than a day later, House Republicans released a 116-page plan to keep the government open until March 14th. The plan had the support of both Trump and Musk. Musk is the Republican Party’s biggest political donor in 2024, a billionaire who also frequently attended the Trump administration. orbit.
But despite significant arm-twisting and major threats from Trump and his allies, the new plan came under fire on the House floor Thursday night with significant Republican opposition.
There is less than a day left until a potential government shutdown.
This failure was a defeat for President Trump, who, despite winning the election, still cannot control everything that happens in Washington on his own.
“To say this is alarming and a setback is an absolute understatement,” said the veteran Republican operative.
But even if the bill failed, the negotiations over the budget agreement solidified some new political truths. President Joe Biden’s complete silence on the negotiations left a vacuum that allowed President Trump to position himself as the second president, while President Johnson said his position as chairman would leave President Trump alone. Keeping him satisfied is a condition, and Mr. Musk’s role as the power and money of the new government is now not just a hypothesis, but one that can be used to sway votes and possibly end a politician’s career. There is.
“The new sheriff in town”
Mr. Musk has money, but he also has a megaphone. He has the most followers on social media platform X with over 208 million followers. This is not surprising at all since he is the owner of the site.
Mr. Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help elect Mr. Trump, has posted more than 100 times in the past two days dissenting from the original spending deal, saying those who vote in favor of his plan will be given a seat in the primaries. They threatened to provide funding and the period was six weeks. Making.
“Any Representative or Senator who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out within two years!” Musk posted on X on Wednesday afternoon.
Later that day, Trump himself announced his opposition and announced that the bill had become law.
Musk’s outsized role in this story has sparked new scrutiny of his position as an unelected official and the power he appears to have to sway votes. . President Trump has nominated Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to run a new non-governmental agency aimed at improving “government efficiency.”
Mr. Trump’s team quickly quashed any suggestion that Mr. Musk was really pulling the strings.
“As soon as President Trump announced his public position on the (continuing resolution), Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his view,” Trump spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”
In a phone interview with NBC News on Thursday morning, Trump was quick to attribute Musk’s spate of social media posts opposing the original deal to Musk’s blessing.
“I told them that if they agree with me, they can make a statement,” Trump said. “He looks at things from a cost perspective.”
Donald Trump Jr., who also posted opposition to the original bill, said in a brief interview Thursday that the original continuing resolution, which his father effectively invalidated, was “ridiculous.”
Asked about Musk and his father’s role in pushing the resolution, Trump Jr. said: “I think we both agree on the insanity of what was in there. 1,500 pages. No one will be able to digest the contents of this book.”
The shutdown fight is Mr. Trump’s first post-election test, and a test of his ability to once again whip a Republican party that still doesn’t control the White House or the Senate, at least not the role Mr. Musk was expected to play in the early days of his administration. The spotlight was placed on the roles that would play a role. his second administration.
After the original deal was scrapped, some Democrats began calling Musk a functional next president, while some Republican budget hawks wanted him to replace Johnson as speaker of the House. Ta.
“Elon Musk appears to be trying to fulfill his role as an unelected president, and in fact Donald Trump appears to be following his orders,” California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee said Thursday. said on CNN.
“The Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of Congress,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted on social media. “Nothing will disrupt this swamp more than electing Elon Musk…think about it…nothing is impossible. (Not to mention the joy of watching the love hearts of the characters lose).
Many of Fox News’ prime-time hosts, known as MAGA allies, were particularly pleased with Mr. Musk’s efforts to kill the bill Wednesday night.
Sean Hannity said, “There’s a new sheriff in town.” Jesse Watters said Musk “blew his bills all day long.”
By Thursday morning, “Fox & Friends,” the network’s flagship morning show, was marveling at the new power Musk wielded.
Mr. Musk is now “the center of the Capitol universe in a way that no one has ever seen,” Peter Doocy said.
After the new bill was announced, Musk pushed back against serious arguments that he was the true architect, instead giving credit to Trump and Johnson.
“I am not the author of this proposal,” he posted. “Credit to @realDonaldTrump, @JdVance, and @SpeakerJohnson.”
There are no future plans at this time
On Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas was among the Republicans who rejected the new spending deal blessed by President Trump.
“Yes, I think this bill is better in some ways than yesterday, but it would be foolish to accept this bill and congratulate yourself just because it has fewer pages, and that’s exactly what Republicans did. “We are in the midst of a crisis,” Roy said in a fiery floor speech before the so-called Plan B budget deal was defeated.
Mr. Roy was the most vocal Republican opponent of the redistricting budget. That’s because President Trump has demanded that the nation’s debt ceiling (often used as a political tactic) be lifted without significant spending cuts in return. He was joined by about 40 House Republicans in blocking the deal. Under the proposal passed by the House of Representatives, the debt ceiling would be delayed until January 2027.
Mr. Roy faced public opposition and began receiving direct threats from Mr. Trump about issues in the primary. The threat included a reference to former Virginia congressman Bob Good, who lost to a Trump-backed challenger this year.
Prime Minister Johnson’s speaking position had been threatened by some in the conservative media, but by passing the new deal on the floor, he appears to have maintained President Trump’s support for the time being. After that failed, he tried to postpone the attempt at a budget deal.
Mr Johnson told reporters after his second attempt at a budget deal failed in the House of Commons: “I hope we will come back together and come up with another solution, so stay tuned.”
Still, a rally of conservative activists from around the country in Phoenix on Thursday erupted with joy at having managed to defeat the original bill.
“In just the last 24 hours, we’ve accomplished things we never would have been able to do before,” Turning Point CEO Charlie Kirk said at the company’s annual AmericaFest conference, adding: . You, everyone in this room, everyone watching online, you took down the Washington insider in a matter of hours, and that CR is dead. ”
But with the proposal rejected, no plans have been made as the clock ticks down for a government shutdown. That plan could be dragged into the holiday period and into a busy January, when a new Congress is sworn in and the election results need to be certified and approved. President Trump is scheduled to take office.
“There’s no new deal at this point, but obviously we’re looking at a lot of options,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) told reporters after the second budget deal was defeated. I’m just there,” he said.
After the vote, Musk blamed New York Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries for rejecting the proposal in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
“Objectively, the majority of House Republicans voted for the spending bill, while only two Democrats voted yes,” he posted on X. ”
The budget approved by President Trump includes disaster relief for states devastated by hurricanes Helen and Milton, funding for construction projects and environmental cleanup, an extension of the Farm Bill, and funding for conservation efforts and rural development disaster assistance. It included funding in the millions.
But many other provisions were also removed, and importantly, unlike the original bill, Republicans did not consult Democrats when putting together the new bill.
Blinded Democrats have largely voiced their opposition, arguing that Americans would be harmed by the removal of significant spending from the original deal, and pointing their anger at Mr. Musk’s role in shaping the plan. Ta.
“Elon Musk has ordered his puppet president-elect and House Republicans to break the bipartisan agreement reached to open the doors of government,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). wrote about Mr. “House Republicans are abdicating their responsibility” to the American people and siding with billionaires and special interests. ”
Jeffries used his speech on the House floor to focus the spending issue on the Republican Party and President Trump’s first four years in office.
“In the history of our country, 25 percent of our debt was accumulated in the last president’s four years. It was 25 percent. Never before have we lectured America so well about fiscal responsibility,” he said. Ta.
President Trump has spent significant political capital pushing for a second spending plan, but has yet to comment on its failure. But Democratic Sen. Kevin Cramer suggested that if Mr. Trump spoke up — again — he might make a difference.
“Honestly, I think one of the ways we could resolve this issue fairly quickly is for President Trump to come to Washington tomorrow or spend the weekend here talking to people face to face,” he said Thursday. He spoke on the night of. “Let’s be honest. … He’s pretty swaying and persuasive. He’s acting more like a sitting president than a sitting president. If he shows up, he’s going to have a lot of sway and persuasion. I think it will help move things forward.”
