House Speaker Mike Johnson may be in the DOGE House.
Billionaire entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy turned on House GOP leadership on Wednesday and lashed out at Stopgap measure to prevent government shutdown And actively encouraging ordinary Republicans to end it.
“This bill should not pass,” Musk candidly posted on his X platform, later pondering “Have you ever seen a big piece of pork?” In reference to a photograph of legislative text.
“It is full of excessive spending, special interest gifts and pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to be serious about government efficiency, they should not vote for them,” Ramaswamy said on X.
“Congress has known about this deadline since they made it in late September. There’s no reason it couldn’t go through the standard process, rather than having a vote right before Congressmen go home for the holidays. The urgency is 100% built in.
Despite the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-chairs’ criticism of the spending patch, whose leadership unveiled Tuesday evening, Johnson (R-La.) insisted both moguls understand their plight.
“I was talking to Elon last night. Elon and Vivek and I are on a text chain together, and I was explaining the background to them,” Johnson said on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday about his conversation with the co-chairs of DOGE, a government-owned Not a unit.
“Vivek and I talked last night around midnight, and he said, ‘Look, I get it. We understand you’re in an impossible situation. Everyone knows that.'”
Congress leaders need to act to stop the default or face a government shutdown on Friday night. On Tuesday, he introduced a continuing proposal that would fund the government until March 14, 2025.
However, that 1,547-page continuing resolution, or CR, was packed with all kinds of add-ons like $100 billion in disaster relief, a one-year extension of the farm bill, potentially up to $2 billion in funding for the rebuilding . The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, which collapsed after colliding with a cargo ship earlier this year, and $10 billion in aid to farmers.
Johnson is facing an open revolt from Republicans, who, unlike Musk and Ramaswamy, have blamed the House Speaker for trying to pass the bill at the conclusion of the 118th Congress and before lawmakers go home for the holidays.
Many radical Republicans have expressed displeasure over the measure, complaining that they just want a clean CR and believe many of the other provisions should be taken up separately. There are also complaints that MPs were not given enough time to analyze the text.
Since the 2024 election, Johnson has courted Musk and Ramaswamy, welcoming them to the Capitol for meetings with lawmakers earlier this month and to Mar-a-Lago and President-elect Donald Trump’s UFC outing. Shake hands with him in one.
“Remember guys, we still have a very slim margin of Republicans,” Johnson said on “Fox & Friends” about his discussions with DOGE leaders.
“So, there has to be Democrat votes for any bill. They understand the situation. He said, Mr. President, this is not directed at you, but we do not like this expenditure.
Democrats control both the Senate and the White House. Given the GOP’s slim control of the House, Johnson will need to rely on the Dems as they have many members who could vote against any CR.
Johnson added, “We have to do it because here’s the key: By doing this, we’re clearing the deck, and we’re preparing Trump to come back with an America First agenda.”
Congress is poised for a fast-track passage early next year to handle both Trump’s agenda and the outstanding government funding process for fiscal year 2025, before moving on to fiscal year 2026 — which is due by Oct. 1, 2025. Will be forced to.
As Johnson explained, the CR’s goal is to clear the way on several key issues, particularly reimbursing disaster relief relief, so that the weight of the lower chamber can be reduced in the next Congress.
“Right now, the Democrats are still in control and that’s the problem. So, we have to get this work done so we don’t have a shutdown, so we get a short-term funding measure, and we get to March where we can put our fingerprints on spending,” Johnson continued.
“That’s when big changes start. And we can’t wait to get there.
(TagstoTranslate)Politics(T)US News(T)Elon Musk(T)Government Shutdown(T)Government Spending(T)Mike Johnson(T)Vivek Ramaswamy
