Government spending bill falters amid Trump’s opposition

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he believed a spending bill aimed at funding the federal government until mid-March was dying fast. Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance earlier in the day publicly opposed the bill in a joint statement. Other criticisms of the proposed legislation came on Wednesday from tech billionaire and Trump supporter Elon Musk. Musk has been designated by Trump to co-lead the soon-to-be-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, alongside former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Why is Trump opposing the bill? Instead of crafting a government spending bill that merely continued funding for preexisting government programs, conservatives accused House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other Republican leaders of trying to create new programs and hustle them into law using the spending bill. Musk echoed those criticisms on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Speaker Johnson argued that Americans hurt by the past hurricane season and struggling farmers could not continue without government assistance. When Trump gets back into the White House and Republicans control both chambers of Congress, the GOP can decide other spending patterns for the future, he said.

What is Trump’s proposed solution? The president-elect told Republicans they should pass a streamlined spending bill that would not give Democrats extra funding for programs. He also presented a strategy for Congress to debate the debt ceiling under President Joe Biden’s watch rather than Trump’s second administration starting in January.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report about the spending bill and lawmakers’ opposition.