WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday came out against stopgap spending plan negotiated between House Republicans and Democrats to avoid a government shutdown just hours after Elon Musk voiced his displasure for the bill.
The move comes just two days before the deadline as Johnson’s measure called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added provisions such as for disaster victims and farmers and a pay raise for members of Congress.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a joint statement, calling on Republicans to “get smart” and “pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”
“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 [President Joe] Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” Trump and Vance said.
Later Wednesday in a post on Truth Social, Trump threatened Republicans who would vote in favor of the bill with the risk of losing their job in the upcoming election.
“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” he posted. “Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025.”
Trump’s decision to come out against the bill came hours after his top ally, billionaire Elon Musk, came out against the bill, threatening lawmakers who voted for it.
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!,” he wrote to his 200 million followers on X.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled Democrats were not inclined to vote for a clean bill and other Democrats prompted to question who is really in power: Musk or Trump?
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country,” Jeffries said. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, slammed Musk for tanking the bill, saying Republicans will “kiss the ring” of Trump — a reference to the Godfather mafia movies.
“Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government. The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring?” Sanders wrote in a post on X Wednesday.
