Trump and Musk send DC in tailspin with spending bill attacks as government shutdown nears: Live updates
The proposed continuing resolution, championed by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, would have kept agencies running at current funding levels through to mid-March 2025
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump and JD Vance appear to have guaranteed a bitter showdown with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill after demanding that the House and Senate effectively force the federal government to shut down, rather than pass a stop-gap funding bill championed by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson’s bipartisan deal would have kept agencies running at current funding levels through to mid-March 2025 but the president-elect and his deputy issued a statement complaining the bill does not address the nation’s statutory debt ceiling, urging the passage of a “streamlined” alternative version “that doesn’t give... the Democrats everything they want.”
Democrats have meanwhile mocked tech billionaire Elon Musk’s undue influence over the incoming administration, with Senator Bernie Sanders ironically praising “President Elon Musk” on X.
While Trump told Fox News Digital Johnson will “easily remain speaker” he added a caveat reiterating his earlier statement. Among the names floated as potential replacements for Johnson is Musk, with Senator Rand Paul noting the role is not limited to members of Congress.
Meanwhile, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been removed from Trump’s sprawling election interference case by Georgia’s Court of Appeals which ruled her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade was a conflict of interest.
U.S. applications for unemployment benefits come back down after last week’s big rise
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell markedly last week following a big increase the week before.
Jobless claim applications declined by 22,000 to 220,000 for the week of Dec. 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 229,000 analysts were forecasting.
Rep Nancy Mace: ‘Shut. It. Down.'
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace calls for a government shutdown until Donald Trump is sworn as president on January 20, “if there’s no plan” to move forward on a continuing resolution ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline.
Here’s what she wrote on X this morning:
At this point if there is no plan, let the September CR lapse and let’s reset Jan. 20th.
It’s not the scary shutdown the lying media tells you it is. The President has the authority to prioritize spending.
Statutorily if the government shuts down, social security, veterans benefits, Medicare, and Medicaid all still get paid, because they are considered mandatory spending not subject to appropriations.
In the event of a shutdown, OMB or the Office of Management and Budget, develops a contingency plan to decide what stays open and who has to report to work.
I also have a bill called the Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2023. It would appropriate funding for 90 days at 99% of what our current budget is, and lowering an additional 1% per day after 90 days passed.
We should cut spending the easy way (my bill) or the slightly harder one (a partial government shutdown).
Perhaps we could start with paying only those government employees who show up to work.
Might be a good proof point to determine what’s essential and what’s not. We got a lot of junk in the federal government.
Gaetz threatens to expose lawmakers he claims made ‘me too’ payoffs with public funds
Former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz has hinted he may expose lawmakers who he claims made “me too” payoffs to with public funds amid the imminent release of the House Ethics Committee report into his conduct with women.
The flailing Republican admitted Wednesday he “probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked” more than he should have in his 30s after reports of the pending release of the long-running ethics investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with at least one underage girl and drug use while he was in office.
Gaetz, 42, who dropped out of the running to be named attorney general in president-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet, made the thinly veiled threat in a multi-point plan “someone suggested” to him in a post on X.
Rhian Lubin and Alex Woodward report.
Gaetz hints he’ll expose lawmakers who made ‘me too’ payoffs with public funds
The thinly veiled threat comes after members secretly voted to release the House Ethics Committee report into Gaetz’s conduct while in office
Watch: Trump ‘border czar’ says plan include deporting undocumented parents of US citizens
Trump says Johnson will ‘easily remain speaker’ — but there’s an ‘if’ attached...
Donald Trump told Fox News Digital that Mike Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” and eliminates “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the spending package.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” the president-elect told the outlet.
“If the speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker,” Trump also said, adding a caveat to his apparent endorsement of Johnson.
A vote for the next speaker is scheduled for January 3. Some names have already floated as potential replacements for Johnson, with Rep Thomas Massie saying he won’t support the speaker’s reelection. House Republicans only have a very slim majority to elect a speaker.
In the Senate, independent lawmaker Rand Paul has suggested the next speaker should be Elon Musk, given that the role does not need to be a sitting member of Congress.
Romney admits Trump’s MAGA agenda he stood up to now dominates GOP
GOP Senator Mitt Romney said on Sunday that MAGA Republicanism now wholly dominates the Republican Party, echoing the skepticism of those who have been waiting for some kind of “post-Trump” Republican Party to emerge.
Romney is one of Trump’s most frequent critics in the GOP and voted for the impeachment of the president-elect in 2021. This election cycle, he opted to retire from Congress rather than face an inevitable primary challenge backed by the former-and-future president.
John Bowden reports.
Romney admits Trump’s MAGA agenda now dominates Republican Party
Utah senator, who is soon to step down, says he was ‘wrong’ about assumption Trump would lose 2024 election
Speaker Johnson ‘faces challengers’ in new year
Mike Johnson could be challenged for the speaker’s chair in the new year as Republican critics draw up a list of potential replacements, according to reports.
Some rebels in his party are angry at his handling of the stop-gap bill to fund the federal government through March 14, dubbed a “dumpster fire” by some Republicans.
The bipartisan deal was struck on Tuesday evening and lawmakers have until Friday to approve new spending.
Rhian Lubin reports.
Johnson could be challenged for speaker role as alternatives ‘floated’
Some rebels in the GOP are angry at Johnson’s handling of the stop-gap bill to fund the federal government through March 14
Rand Paul says nothing would disrupt ‘the swamp’ more than making Musk speaker
Independent US senator Rand Paul is pushing Elon Musk as a potential speaker of the House, as rumors swirl of an effort to replace Mike Johnson.
Paul noted on X: “The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress...”
He continued: “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk ... think about it ... nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds)
ANALYSIS: As Trump makes fresh threats against Liz Cheney, Republican senators look the other way
Eric Garcia writes:
House Republicans wasted little time following President-elect Trump’s orders to enact his plans for retribution. On Tuesday, the House Administration’s oversight subcommittee released a report saying that Liz Cheney’s communication with January 6 subcommittee witness Cassidy Hutchinson violated the law.
Republicans’ plans come as Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press that he wanted to see members of the January 6 select committee go to jail. Throughout much of Trump’s time as a candidate and president, a common refrain by Republicans was essentially “take him seriously, not literally.” In other words, he doesn’t really mean that. Republicans could then justify their support for his worst impulses to say he really meant he supported their major priorities.
But the recent actions by the subcommittee shows not only that Trump means what he says, but that he will demand that Republicans find the legal rationale to do so. Trump went as far as to thank the subcommittee’s chairman Barry Loudermilk for the report.
Continue reading...
Trump makes fresh threats against Liz Cheney, Republican senators look the other way
ANALYSIS: Republicans ranging from Mitt Romney to Chuck Grassley are either keeping their head down or brushing off Trump’s actions, writes Eric Garcia
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