President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday he ran against the Republican-backed candidate government bill on financingon the side Elon Muska crusade against the package and increasing the risk of a government shutdown.
Trump is against it continuation of the resolution proposed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to a source familiar with the president-elect's thinking who was granted anonymity to describe private conversations.
The source confirmed that Trump said the Fox News host is “totally against” CR.
Later Wednesday afternoon, the vice president-elect and senator. JD VanceOhio issued a joint statement from him and Trump saying politicians should “pass a simplified bill” that won't give Democrats “everything they want.”
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief and set our country up for success in 2025. This can only be achieved with a temporary NO DEMOCRAT GIFTS funding bill combined with an increase in the debt ceiling,” reads a statement published by Vance. 'and on the X day.
“Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” the statement read.
Their opposition significantly adds to Musk's efforts throughout the day to stuff the 1,547-page bill, which he says is weighed down by wasteful pork barrel spending.
If a bill to provide funding for the government is not passed by the House and Senate after Friday evening and then signed by the president, the federal government will begin implementing a partial business shutdown, which could include employee furloughs.
Musk, whom Trump tapped to co-chair an advisory group aimed at curbing alleged government waste, did not appear concerned about the prospect of a government shutdown a week before Christmas.
“Shutting down the government (which doesn't actually mean suspending key functions) is infinitely better than passing terrible legislation,” Musk wrote in one of dozens X posts handrail at CR.
In another postMusk assured that Congress “should not pass any laws” until Trump takes office on January 20.
A growing number of Republican lawmakers have sided with Musk, potentially forcing Johnson, D-L.A., to pass the resolution through a process known as a “suspension” of the traditional House rules process.
Suspension of the adoption of bills requires the support of two-thirds of the House, bypassing other procedural stages.
Democrats would have to join Republicans to pass a suspension bill, and as of Wednesday morning, the most likely path to funding the government seemed to be a CR suspension.
Johnson said Wednesday morning that he had been texting overnight with Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy about the bill.
“They understand the situation. They said: 'This is not addressed to you, Mr. Speaker, but we do not like such expenses.' I said, 'Guess what, me neither,'” Johnson said on Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends.”
But “we have to do it,” Johnson said, he told Musk and Ramaswamy, because “by doing this we are clearing the decks” for Trump to implement his agenda.
A rebellion within his ranks against the Czech Republic could jeopardize Johnson's chances of being re-elected speaker of the House of Representatives on January 3, when he will need the support of a majority of the entire chamber to regain the gavel.
Johnson became a speaker in October 2023, after the Republican Party-led overthrow of former Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California. Although Johnson won his party's nomination for speaker, many House Republicans declined Wednesday to say whether they would support him for the role when the next Congress convenes with an even smaller GOP majority.
Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said “we'll see what happens” when asked if he would vote for Johnson for speaker, Punchbowl News reported.
He later backtracked on the comment, saying he supported Johnson as speaker and only meant to express uncertainty about what would happen next if the resolution continued.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he would vote for someone else for speaker, Punchbowl reported.
A short-term funding bill that will keep the government running through mid-March was unveiled Tuesday night, just days before federal funding expires.
The bill includes more than $100 billion in disaster relief to help fight the devastating hurricanes that hit states including Florida and North Carolina earlier this year.
President Joe Biden did not refer specifically to the bill. Wednesday marked the 52nd anniversary of the death of his first wife and daughter in 1972 car accident. Biden spent the day with his family, attending a service and honoring their memory.