Stopgap Funding Bill Scrapped After Trump and Musk Opposes It . . . threaten to Primary Republicans
by Natalia Mittelstadt, Just the News.com, December 18, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump signaled a change to the status quo on spending as he has torched House Speaker Mike Johnson’s continuing resolution/omnibus bill.
Johnson has pushed a 1,547-page spending bill in an effort to prevent a government shutdown on Friday. Trump, his incoming administration nominees, and House Republicans have all criticized the bill for including massive pay raises for Congress members, shielding Jan. 6 House committee members from congressional subpoenas, and extending a censorship agency within the State Department.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a joint statement on Wednesday, slamming the spending bill and calling for a clean bill to fund the government.
"Sweetheart provisions"
“Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney,” they wrote. “The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee—which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas.
“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want."
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” Trump and Vance continued. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”
SHUT IT DOWN!! Let's see what actually happens when the Government "Shuts Down"!!! Call their bluff NOW! Pass the Kids Online Safety Act and turn out the lights in DC and come home! Nobody in DC has been working since COVID and those who are "working" are just robbing us blind!… https://t.co/k4lFqfYi96
— Tom Zawistowski (@TomZWTPC) December 19, 2024
Trump later posted on Truth Social on Wednesday regarding the bill, saying that “the Communist Global Engagement Center, a project of Crooked Hillary Clinton, should not in any way, shape, or form be extended and, the shielding of the very corrupt J6 Unselect Committee of Political Losers and Thugs would be suicidal for any Republican approving it. Likewise, this is not a good time for Congress to be asking for pay increases. Hopefully, you’ll be entitled to such an increase in the near future when we, ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’”
"They are the swamp"
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who Trump picked to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Vivek Ramaswamy, called for the ousting of any Congress member who votes for the spending bill. “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk posted on X on Wednesday.
READ: Elon Musk Reportedly Set to Target House Republicans Who 'Defy Trump's Agenda'
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., also reacted to the spending bill, calling out his congressional colleagues.
“Pay attention to the members of Congress who have been all in for [DOGE] for media attention but will vote for the short-term omnibus. They are the Swamp,” Biggs posted on X on Wednesday.
Assuming that the current spending bill will be abandoned, Biggs told “Just the News and AMAC Special Report: Trump’s First 100 Days” on Wednesday that the status quo of passing an omnibus spending bill might be changing.
As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down. The federal government's budget deficit in the recently concluded fiscal year totaled $1.834 trillion, ranking the third largest in U.S. history.
The replacement is “probably going to be a clean CR, so it won't be total disruption, but the fact that with President Trump and the DOGE brothers and our Freedom Caucus – and actually, it wasn't just Freedom Caucus, there were Freedom Caucus-adjacent,” Biggs said. “There were other members throughout this conference that said, ‘This is absurd, this is a no-go.’ So the fact that there was so much antipathy toward the bill indicates that maybe, just maybe, we're turning a corner.”
You seem to think the public is dumb.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
They are not.
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