Musk Backs Johnson Plan to Avert Shutdown as House Vote Begins
(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk, President-elect Donald Trump’s key adviser, backed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s third attempt at a spending package, boosting its odds as voting got underway late Friday.
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“The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances,” Musk said on his social media platform X. “It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces.”
The bill would keep the government open through March 14, provide disaster relief and give billions of dollars in economic aid to farmers.
Johnson emerged from a two-hour meeting with fellow House Republicans to tell reporters there is a “unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward.”
Johnson wouldn’t discuss the plan and said he still had “a couple things” to work out. The speaker plans to use an expedited process for the measure that requires a two-thirds majority, meaning it will need significant Democratic support.
Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska said House Republicans decided not to include a suspension of the national debt limit after a funding package that included the provision failed Thursday evening. Trump has insisted that the debt limit be waived or raised before he takes office.
The last-minute haggling over details, which were not yet finalized, came as Musk continued earlier Friday to threaten a government shutdown if the incoming administration did not get what it wants out of the House Republican majority.
“Either the government should pass sensible bills that actually serve the people or shut it down!” Musk posted on his social media platform X.
The US government moved ahead with shutdown preparations on Friday, notifying federal workers they might be furloughed, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Democrats had been locked out of negotiations since Trump sank a bipartisan deal earlier this week. But House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told colleagues that he’s been in talks with Johnson.
“The lines of communication have been reopened,” Jeffries said.
A new interim funding package would be the third proposal the speaker has put forward to avert a shutdown, set for midnight Friday. Most Democrats and 38 Republicans late Thursday voted down the Trump-backed measure. Conservatives objected to a provision suspending the US national debt limit for two years that Trump demanded at the last minute.
That failure put a spotlight on the limits of Trump’s power over a sharply divided Congress, despite Republicans impending control of both chambers next year. Fissures within the Republican ranks threaten to undermine Trump’s ability to impose his will.
Johnson was forced to withdraw an initial package to fund the government through March that had been negotiated with Democrats after Trump and Musk came out against it on Wednesday.
House Democratic leaders have made it clear they do not intend to help Republicans raise or waive the national debt limit without concessions, arguing the GOP intends to use the leeway for tax cuts benefiting the wealthy and corporations.
Trump maintained his pressure campaign on Republicans Friday morning, insisting that any government shutdown that started before his term would be blamed on Democrats.
“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under “TRUMP.” This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!,” he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
--With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Natalia Drozdiak.
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