US govt nears shutdown as Trump, Musk sink bipartisan funding bill
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The news: The US government is hours away from a potential shutdown, as Donald Trump torpedoed a bipartisan funding deal meant to keep federal operations running beyond Friday and until March, plunging Congress into chaos.
Following a barrage of criticism from Elon Musk, the President-elect lashed out at an agreement struck between House Republicans and Democrats to keep the federal government funded, threatening Republicans who might support the bill with political retribution.
Trump called on Republicans to reject the measure as “Democrat giveaways” unless it includes a debt ceiling increase. Musk amplified the opposition with social media posts labelling the bill “outrageous”.
The context: The proposed bill, meant to fund the government until 14 March, included USD100 billion ($159.75 billion) for disaster relief and farm aid, alongside unrelated measures like funding for Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and a potential Washington Commanders stadium.
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson initially backed the deal but withdrew it under pressure from conservatives following Trump’s intervention.
Democrat House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries slammed Republicans for reneging on the agreement, as vice president-elect JD Vance signalled that talks might continue.
Without a resolution, government funding lapses at 12:01am Saturday local time (Sunday 4:00pm AEDT), halting federal operations and pay.
What they said: “House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made. House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday night.
“House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown, or worse. An agreement is an agreement. It was bipartisan and there is nothing more to say.”
On Thursday Trump told Fox News Johnson would be “easily” re-elected as House speaker if he does what Trump wants.
“If the speaker acts decisively, and tough and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker,” Trump said.
In a social media post, Trump said: “Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch,” adding that Democrats “are looking to embarrass us in June when it comes up for a vote.”
Any Republican who “would be so stupid” as to vote for a spending bill that didn’t also immediately eliminate or raise the debt ceiling, Trump said, would face a primary challenge.
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been tasked to lead efforts to slash government spending under Trump’s upcoming administration, raged against the bill on social media on Wednesday.
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk posted.
The sources: The New York Times , The Washington Post, The Financial Times
