Elon Musk was among the many creatures stirring throughout the House during Washington’s government shutdown season.
Congressmen were anticipating a smooth transition to the holidays. They struck a bipartisan agreement that would keep the government afloat and send them all back to their districts in joy.
However, with Musk, the richest man in the world, controlling a significant portion of the political process and Donald Trump back in the White House, they were given a preview of what the next four years might hold.
For live coverage, follow along.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., drafted a 1,500-page funding package that was full with the byproducts of the conventional horse-trading that typically characterizes congressional dealmaking. Trump, with Musk’s assistance, successfully killed the bill on Wednesday.
The plan was denounced by conservative Republicans and right-wing talkers as the kind of Washington politics that Trump ran on a platform to overthrow during the election. However, the president-elect did not participate in the ongoing negotiations.
That came to an end late on Wednesday when Trump condemned the plan as absurd and extremely costly, effectively ending it.
House Republicans published a 116-page plan to keep the government open until March 14 less than a day later. Both Trump and Musk, the billionaire who frequently hangs around Trump and was the Republican Party’s largest 2024 political donor, endorsed the concept.
But despite Trump and his allies’ major threats and considerable arm-twisting, the revised plan was met with strong Republican resistance and was destroyed on the House floor Thursday night.
Less than a day before a possible government shutdown, it departed.
The setback was a setback for Trump, who, even after winning the election, is still unable to exert complete control over events in Washington.
According to one experienced Republican operator, it would be a complete understatement to say that this is concerning and a setback.
However, despite the measure’s failure, the budget deal negotiations have confirmed a few new political realities: President Joe Biden’s complete silence during the negotiations has created a vacuum that has allowed Trump to position himself as a second president, Johnson’s position as speaker is dependent on Trump’s satisfaction, and Musk’s role as the nascent administration’s financial and political power is now more than just hypothetical; it is something he can use to try to sway votes and possibly end political careers.
‘A new sheriff in town’
Musk has his megaphone in addition to his money. Given that he controls the website, it is not wholly surprising that he has more than 208 million followers on the social media network X.
Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump, has blogged more than 100 times in the last two days about his opposition to the original spending pact. He threatened to sponsor primary challenges to anyone who supported the plan, which had been crafted over six weeks.
Any senator or member of the House who supports this ridiculous spending package need to be removed from office within the next two years! Musk made a post on X on Wednesday afternoon.
Trump publicly opposed it later that day, indicating that the bill was finished.
Musk’s excessive involvement in the story brought his status as an unelected official and his apparent ability to influence votes under closer examination. Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate, have been appointed by Trump to lead a new nongovernmental organization that aims to improve government efficiency.
Any indication that Musk was actually pulling the strings was swiftly suppressed by Trump’s crew.
According to Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, Republicans on Capitol Hill immediately echoed President Trump’s position on the [continuing resolution] after he made it public. The Republican Party is led by President Trump. Complete halt.
In a phone interview with NBC News on Thursday morning, Trump was also eager to say that Musk had his OK for Musk’s barrage of social media tweets criticizing the original agreement.
Trump stated that he could release a statement if he agreed with me. He is considering the situation from a financial perspective.
In a quick interview on Thursday, Donald Trump Jr., who had also been blogging against the first bill, called the initial continuing resolution that his father essentially sabotaged absurd.
Trump Jr. responded, “I think they both agree on the insanity of what was in there,” when asked about Musk and his father’s involvement in sabotaging the resolution. 1,500 pages that are impossible for anyone to read.
The shutdown battle highlighted Musk’s potential role, at least in the early days of his second administration, and served as Trump’s first postelection test of his ability to once again whip Republicans who do not yet control the Senate or the White House.
Following the cancellation of the initial agreement, some Republicans who were budget hawks urged Musk to take Johnson’s place as speaker of the House, while some Democrats started referring to him as the functional president-elect.
Elon Musk seems to be attempting to assume the position of an unelected president. Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, stated on CNN on Thursday that Donald Trump is apparently carrying out his directives.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, wrote on social media that the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of Congress. Think about it: electing Elon Musk would be the biggest disruption to the swamp. Nothing is impossible. (Not to mention the delight in witnessing the uniparty, or collective establishment, lose their ever-lovin’ minds).
Musk’s efforts to kill the bill Wednesday night notably pleased Fox News’s prime-time anchors, many of whom are well-known MAGA allies.
According to Sean Hannity, the town has a new sheriff. Musk blew up the bill all day, according to Jesse Watters.
Fox and Friends, the network’s premier morning show, was in awe of Musk’s newfound authority by Thursday morning.
According to Peter Doocy, Musk is suddenly the center of the universe on Capitol Hill in a way that has never been witnessed before.
Musk responded to widespread rumors that he was the real architect of the new bill by praising Trump and Johnson instead.
He wrote, “I am not the author of this proposal.” Thanks to @SpeakerJohnson, @JdVance, and @realDonaldTrump.
No plan forward for now
Rep. Chip Roy of Texas was among the Republicans who voted against the new budget agreement approved by Trump on Thursday.
In a fiery floor speech just before the so-called plan B budget deal was defeated, Roy stated, “Yes, I think this bill is better than it was yesterday in some respects, but to take this bill and congratulate yourself because it’s shorter in pages but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine, and that’s precisely what Republicans are doing.”
Trump’s demand to lift the nation’s debt ceiling, which is sometimes used as a political football without requiring major expenditure cuts in return, made Roy one of the most outspoken Republicans against the revised budget agreement. He killed the deal with the help of about 40 Republican members of the House. The debt ceiling would have been postponed until January 2027 under the plan that was approved by the House.
Roy received direct threats from Trump regarding a primary challenge as a result of his strong opposition. The threats included a reference to former Virginia Representative Bob Good, who lost this year to a challenger supported by Trump.
Some conservative media outlets challenged Johnson’s speakership, but by bringing the new proposal to the floor, he seemed to have maintained Trump’s support for the time being. He attempted to push attempts at a budget deal forward after it failed.
Following the House floor loss of his second attempt at a budget agreement, Johnson told reporters, “We will regroup and we will come up with another solution, so stay tuned.”
Nevertheless, there was celebration that they had successfully sabotaged the initial legislation at a national conference of conservative activists in Phoenix on Thursday.
At its annual AmericaFest conference, Charlie Kirk, CEO of Turning Point, stated, “We accomplished something in the last 24 hours that we never could have done before.” He added, “I want to show the power that you have is that you, everybody in this room, and everyone watching online, defeated the Washington insiders in hours, everybody, and that CR is dead.”
However, the proposal’s failure leaves no strategy in place as the clock runs out on a government shutdown that might last into the holidays and the hectic month of January, when Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated, a new Congress will take office, and the election results must be confirmed.
Following the rejection of the second budget accord, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters, “There isn’t a new agreement right now, just, you know, obviously looking at a number of options.”
Following the vote, Musk accused New York Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of sabotaging the proposal in the GOP-controlled House.
He wrote on X that, objectively, only two Democrats supported the funding plan, while the great majority of Republican House members did. Therefore, it is clear that @RepJeffries and the Democratic Party are to blame if the government shuts down.
Disaster aid for states devastated by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, cash for environmental cleanup and construction projects, an extension of the farm bill, millions of dollars for conservation initiatives, and disaster help for rural development were all included in the budget agreement that Trump approved.
However, it also eliminated several other features, and notably, Republicans did not confer with Democrats when crafting the new law, in contrast to the earlier one.
Blindsided Democrats mostly voiced their disapproval, accusing Musk of influencing the proposal and claiming that Americans would suffer as a result of the massive amount of money that was cut from the initial agreement.
Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote on X that Elon Musk had instructed his puppet president-elect and House Republicans to violate the bipartisan accord agreed to keep government open. House Republicans are supporting billionaires and special interests while ignoring their duty to the American people.
During his statement on the House floor, Jeffries attempted to blame the spending issue on Republicans and the first four years of Trump’s presidency.
Twenty-five percent of our country’s debt was accrued during the four years of the last president. He remarked, “How dare you lecture America about fiscal responsibility ever.”
Trump has yet to address the defeat of the second projected spending plan, despite having invested significant political resources in its promotion. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., however, said that it might change things if Trump spoke up once more.
In all honesty, I believe that if President Trump were to visit Washington tomorrow or spend the weekend here and speak with folks in person, this could be resolved really quickly, he stated Thursday night. Let’s be honest. He is very persuasive and powerful. He behaves more like the current president than the former one. And I believe he could help advance things if he showed up.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!