Senior Reporter, HuffPost
Politics Reporter, HuffPost
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) found himself in increasingly hot water Wednesday as his Republican colleagues threatened to dump him over his government funding plan ― which he appeared to abandon amid the backlash.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told reporters he won’t support Johnson when the House elects its speaker next month. Given the slim majority Republicans will hold in the House, Johnson can only afford to lose a single vote if he wants to hold on to the speaker’s gavel.
Tech billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom Johnson embraced as avatars of government efficiency, launched a fusillade of criticism at the spending bill, which would fund the federal government into March, provide tens of billions of dollars in disaster aid and also give lawmakers a pay raise. (Ramaswamy is an investor in HuffPost’s parent company, BuzzFeed.)
“This bill is criminal,” Musk wrote in one of dozens of posts on social media urging the public to call their representatives to demand a “no” vote. He also said “YES” in response to a post suggesting that Congress just “close down” the government until President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Musk declared the bill “dead” around 4 p.m. Wednesday. During the day, he posted or highlighted social media posts several times that incorrectly described provisions in the bill.
For example, Musk posted to 207 million followers a message that said language in the bill to transfer the upkeep, but not ownership, of land in Washington, D.C., where the shuttered RFK Stadium sits would cost the government $3 billion. But according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, it would cost zero to the government.
If Congress doesn’t move, government funding will run out on Friday at midnight, resulting in a shutdown of the federal government. It’s not clear when or if the House will vote on the bill, though party leaders signaled that no votes would be happening Wednesday evening. Politico reported that Johnson might drop the disaster aid and other provisions in favor of a “clean” funding bill.
It’s no surprise that far-right House Republicans would oppose a stopgap government funding bill, especially one with extra provisions attached. The bill was always going to need Democratic votes in order to clear the House. But with Musk and Ramaswamy weighing in from the sidelines, the opposition seemed louder than usual on Wednesday, and the threats to vote against Johnson for speaker next month more serious than last time.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, set his own condition about whom he would support for speaker: “I’m not voting for anybody that will repeat this travesty that we’ve had.”
Norman said it would be helpful if Trump would weigh in on the measure. “President Trump carries a lot of weight,” he said.
Later on Wednesday, Vice President-elect JD Vance posted a statement from himself and Trump criticizing the legislation. Vance demanded that lawmakers strip the pay raise and other provisions, but include the disaster aid and assistance for farmers. He also called for an increase in the nation’s borrowing limit ― a controversial idea that Republicans typically use to demand concessions from Democrats, rather than something for Democrats to concede to Republicans.
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” Vance’s statement read. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling.”
The debt ceiling demand instantly made the funding standoff more complicated than it already was. There had been little discussion in recent weeks about the debt ceiling, which won’t need to be raised until sometime in the early months of 2025.
Democrats accused Musk and Trump of essentially pushing for a government shutdown.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) said in a statement. “You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow.”
Other Democrats mocked Republicans for acting as Musk’s puppets.
“It increasingly seems like we’re in for 4 years of an unelected oligarch running the country by pulling on his puppet’s strings,” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) wrote on social media.
It’s not entirely clear if the push from Musk and Ramaswamy would alter the outcome of a vote on the government funding bill, which is known as a continuing resolution, or CR.
“Anybody it would influence would probably be people that would always vote no,” Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, told HuffPost. “I find that people that tweet a lot are trying to be relevant.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who typically votes against CRs, suggested the dynamic among Republicans has not changed as a result of outside pressure.
“I welcome Elon to the fight,” Burchett said. “We’ve been doing this for a long time. I spoke out against it yesterday.”
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the leader of the House Freedom Caucus, said the discontent is not limited to his group of libertarian and hard-right conservatives.
“I think the speaker could have handled this differently,” he said at a press conference on next year’s legislative agenda. “At this point, I’m still supportive of the speaker, but I will tell you that voices, both inside the House Freedom Caucus and outside the Freedom Caucus, have been very disappointed at what’s happened.”
Johnson’s margin already appeared thin after Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) said she would not take on committee slots or caucus with House Republicans in the upcoming Congress, though she would retain her Republican affiliation.
Spartz said she’s frustrated by how the legislative process works, and that she thinks too much power has been handed over to congressional party leaders at the expense of run-of-the-mill members such as herself.
In an appearance on “CNN This Morning” on Wednesday, she said she was unsure if she would vote for Johnson for speaker again.
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“I haven’t decided yet,” Spartz said. “I’ll be honest with you. Mike is a very nice human being. He’s a brilliant person. Does he have a chance to reform this institution that is broken? I am not sure.”
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