Trump joins Elon Musk in opposing House GOP government funding bill

President-elect Donald Trump spoke out Wednesday against a Republican-backed government funding bill, siding with Elon Musk’s crusade against the package and raising the odds of a government shutdown.

Trump opposes continuing the resolution proposed by Republican 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 he told a Fox News host is “totally against” the CR.

Later Wednesday afternoon, Vice President-elect and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, issued a joint statement from him and Trump declaring that politicians should “pass a streamlined bill” that doesn’t give Democrats “everything what they want.”

“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary NO DEMOCRATIC GIVEAWAY funding bill combined with an increase in the debt ceiling,” the document reads. Statement published by Vance in X.

“Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” his statement read.

Their opposition adds significant weight to Musk’s sustained effort throughout the day to stop the 1,547-page bill, which he says is loaded with wasteful spending.

If there is no legislation passed by the House and Senate and signed by the president to fund the government after Friday night, the federal government would begin implementing a partial shutdown that could include employee furloughs.

Musk, whom Trump has tapped to co-lead an advisory group aimed at reducing alleged government waste, did not seem concerned about the prospect of a government shutdown a week before Christmas.

“‘Shutting down’ the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill,” Musk wrote in one of dozens of X posts ranting against CR.

in another postMusk stated that “Congress should not pass any bills” until Trump takes office on January 20.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers have sided with Musk, which could force Johnson, R-Louisiana, to pass the resolution through a process known as a “suspension” of the traditional House rules process.

Passage of suspended bills requires the bill to gain the support of two-thirds of the House, but bypasses other procedural steps.

Democrats would have to join Republicans to pass the suspended bill, and as of Wednesday morning, a suspended approval of the CR appeared to be the most likely path to funding the government.

Johnson said Wednesday morning that he had been texting overnight with Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy about the bill.

“They understand the situation. They said, ‘It’s not directed at you, Mr. President, but we don’t like the spending.’ I said, ‘Guess what, guys, I don’t either,'” Johnson told “Fox & Friends.”

But “we have to do this,” Johnson said he told Musk and Ramaswamy, because “by doing this, we are clearing the way” for Trump to implement his agenda.

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