Trump, Musk Throw Congress Into Chaos With US Shutdown Looming
- Johnson’s deal with Democrats ruptures days before deadline
- Disaster relief money could be in peril, speaker seeks Plan B
Trump Breaks With Johnson on Funding Bill, Eyes Debt Limit Vote
By Billy House, Steven T. Dennis, and Gregory Korte
Donald Trump is still a month out from his inauguration but already is shaking up Washington, trashing House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to avoid a government shutdown before the holidays and pressuring Republicans to deal with the debt ceiling before he takes office.
With less than two days until federal agencies shutter, House Republicans huddled Thursday in Johnson’s office and struggled to write a Plan B that could appease Trump and his agitator-in-chief, Elon Musk.
Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole, who chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, left that meeting touting progress. “We’re moving in a good direction,” he told reporters.
Mike Johnson Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
The last-minute dealmaking followed an extraordinary day Wednesday. Backroom spending discussions on Capitol Hill spilled out into an open clash on X, with Musk, the social media platform’s owner, denouncing the compromise Johnson had negotiated to keep funding going into next year.
The drama left Johnson, just days after sitting with the president-elect at the Army-Navy football outside Washington, meeting with allies in his Capitol office to come up with a new plan to keep the government financed and avoid the political pain of a shutdown before the funding deadline lapses on Friday night.
The last-minute dealmaking followed an extraordinary day Wednesday. Backroom spending discussions on Capitol Hill spilled out into an open clash on X, with Musk, the social media platform’s owner, denouncing the compromise Johnson had negotiated to keep funding going into next year.
The drama left Johnson, just days after sitting with the president-elect at the Army-Navy football outside Washington, meeting with allies in his Capitol office to come up with a new plan to keep the government financed and avoid the political pain of a shutdown before the funding deadline lapses on Friday night.
Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday that he had discussed the package with Musk and fellow Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy on a text chain, indicating that none of them liked the spending in the measure. Johnson said he tried to relay the reality of the situation: He needed Democratic votes.
But Musk throughout the day fired off a barrage of posts on X calling for a shutdown if Republicans couldn’t strike a deal more to his liking.
Mike Johnson Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday that he had discussed the package with Musk and fellow Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy on a text chain, indicating that none of them liked the spending in the measure. Johnson said he tried to relay the reality of the situation: He needed Democratic votes.
But Musk throughout the day fired off a barrage of posts on X calling for a shutdown if Republicans couldn’t strike a deal more to his liking.
Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday that he had discussed the package with Musk and fellow Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy on a text chain, indicating that none of them liked the spending in the measure. Johnson said he tried to relay the reality of the situation: He needed Democratic votes.
But Musk throughout the day fired off a barrage of posts on X calling for a shutdown if Republicans couldn’t strike a deal more to his liking.
Mike Johnson Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday that he had discussed the package with Musk and fellow Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy on a text chain, indicating that none of them liked the spending in the measure. Johnson said he tried to relay the reality of the situation: He needed Democratic votes.
But Musk throughout the day fired off a barrage of posts on X calling for a shutdown if Republicans couldn’t strike a deal more to his liking.
Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday that he had discussed the package with Musk and fellow Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy on a text chain, indicating that none of them liked the spending in the measure. Johnson said he tried to relay the reality of the situation: He needed Democratic votes.
But Musk throughout the day fired off a barrage of posts on X calling for a shutdown if Republicans couldn’t strike a deal more to his liking.
Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday that he had discussed the package with Musk and fellow Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy on a text chain, indicating that none of them liked the spending in the measure. Johnson said he tried to relay the reality of the situation: He needed Democratic votes.
But Musk throughout the day fired off a barrage of posts on X calling for a shutdown if Republicans couldn’t strike a deal more to his liking.
“We will see when Jan. 3 comes along and see what happens,” he added.
In the meantime, Musk, a formidable power in the Republican Party through his vast wealth and control of X, took a victory lap Wednesday as Johnson’s deal teetered.
“The voice of the people was heard. This was a good day for America,” he said on X.
— With assistance from Kailey Leinz
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