Johnson going ahead with stopgap funding invoice regardless of Elon Musk opposition

Elon Musk, an in depth ally of President-elect Donald Trump, got here out in opposition to Speaker Mike Johnson going ahead with a stopgap authorities funding invoice on Wednesday, saying, “This invoice mustn’t move.”

Johnson was requested concerning the Tesla CEO’s put up throughout an interview on “Fox & Mates.” He appeared to not fear about Musk’s put up influencing the flexibility of the funding invoice to get via each chambers forward of a partial authorities shutdown deadline on the finish of the day Friday.

“I used to be speaking with Elon final evening. Elon and Vivek [Ramaswamy] and I are on a textual content chain collectively and I used to be explaining to them the background of this. Vivek and I talked final evening about midnight, and he mentioned ‘look I get it.’ He mentioned, ‘We perceive you are in an unimaginable place,'” Johnson mentioned.

Johnson mentioned Musk and Ramaswamy, the 2 DOGE (Division of Authorities Effectivity) leaders, are conscious of the powerful spot the speaker is in with a slim majority and Democratic management of the Senate and White Home. DOGE is an outside-of-government (or non-public) operation.

“We gotta get this executed as a result of this is the important thing. By doing this, we’re clearing the decks, and we’re establishing for Trump to come back in roaring again with the American first agenda. That is what we’re going to run with gusto starting January 3 after we begin the brand new Congress,” he mentioned.

Johnson urged for Congress to move this funding invoice “so we do not have a shutdown.”

“We get to March the place we are able to put our fingerprints on the spending. That’s the place the massive modifications begin,” Johnson mentioned.

The push comes as Republicans and Democrats scramble to move a invoice earlier than authorities funding expires Friday evening.

Johnson, whose speakership has been characterised by beating again criticism from his far-right flank, had initially promised a clear invoice that will solely prolong present ranges of presidency funding to forestall a shutdown. Nevertheless, pure disasters and headwinds for farmers, necessitated extra federal spending.

In the long run, the invoice included $100 billion for restoration efforts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and one other $10 billion for financial help for farmers.

Johnson at a press convention mentioned his arms had been tied after “acts of God” necessitated extra cash.

“It was meant to be, and it was, till latest days, a quite simple, very clear [continuing resolution], stopgap funding measure to get us into subsequent 12 months when we’ve unified authorities,” he mentioned. “We had these huge hurricanes within the late fall, Helene and Milton, and different disasters. We now have to be sure that the Individuals that had been devastated by these hurricanes get the aid they want.”

Nonetheless, Republican spending hawks cried foul, accusing Johnson of stocking the invoice with new spending with none solution to pay for it and protecting the invoice’s creation behind closed doorways.

“We’re simply essentially unserious about spending. And so long as you bought a clean examine, you’ll be able to’t shrink the federal government. In the event you can’t shrink the federal government, you’ll be able to’t reside free,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy mentioned.

Musk, too, mocked the dimensions of the invoice.

“Ever seen a much bigger piece of pork?” he posted on X, together with an image of the invoice stacked on a desk.