A government shutdown looms unless Congress passes a spending bill by Friday.
A proposed stopgap spending bill, intended to prevent a partial US government shutdown, has been withdrawn due to opposition from President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Without a new bill passed before Friday, the deadline for current funding, millions of federal employees face unpaid wages.
The now-defunct continuing resolution (CR), unveiled Tuesday, would have maintained current spending levels for three months, allowing the incoming Congress time to develop a more comprehensive budget. The 1,547-page bill included a congressional pay raise, $100 billion for disaster relief, $10 billion in farm aid, and various other provisions such as foreign investment restrictions and healthcare policies.
Republicans immediately criticized the bill, viewing it as overly large and weighted toward Democratic priorities. Elon Musk, designated by Trump to head the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), launched a significant X campaign against the bill.
“This bill should not pass,” Musk tweeted repeatedly throughout Wednesday, condemning it as “criminal,” “outrageous,” “unconscionable,” and “one of the worst bills ever written.” His pronouncements spurred widespread public disapproval, culminating in condemnation from Donald Trump who labeled it “Democrat giveaways.”
“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,” Trump stated in a joint TruthSocial post with Vice President-elect JD Vance.
The incoming administration’s influence on pre-inauguration legislation was widely noted as unusual. Reports from CNN and The Washington Post confirmed the bill’s demise, a fact later confirmed by Musk on X.
“Your elected representatives have heard you, and now the terrible bill is dead. The voice of the people has triumphed!” he declared on X, adding in a subsequent post that “no bills should be passed Congress until January 20,” Trump’s inauguration date.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, the bill’s main proponent, faces the challenge of crafting a replacement before Friday’s deadline. Sources from The Hill suggest a “clean” CR, omitting supplemental provisions like disaster and farm aid, might be proposed. However, Johnson hasn’t yet scheduled a vote.