The initial government spending package aimed at preventing a government shutdown failed late Wednesday, Dec. 18. The 1,500-page bill was scrapped as lawmakers began to reassess their options.
The collapse of the spending bill prompted a mix of explanations from news outlets.
Left-leaning media outlets
Left-leaning outlets largely pointed to Elon Musk as the driving force behind its failure.
MSNBC: “‘Unelected President Musk’: Elon posts 70 times trashing GOP bill, Trump caves.”
Daily Beast: “Democrats Troll ‘Vice President’ Trump as Musk Calls the Shots.”
NBC News: “Elon Musk leads charge to kill spending bill meant to avert government shutdown.”
Right-leaning media outlets
Meanwhile, right-leaning outlets suggested both Musk and President-elect Donald Trump played significant roles in a broader revolt within the Republican Party.
The New York Post: “Bloated federal funding bill is scrapped after Trump-boosted revolt, Rep. Scalise confirms.”
Fox News: “House GOP leaders scramble for Plan B after Trump, Musk lead conservative fury against spending bill.”
Washington Examiner: “Scalise confirms spending deal is ‘dead’ after mass GOP revolt.”
Musk made his opposition clear, posting more than 100 times on X by the end of Wednesday. The bill had been under pressure as lawmakers raced against a 72-hour deadline to bring it to a vote.
That effort came to an abrupt halt after Vice President-elect JD Vance met behind closed doors with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for roughly an hour.
Musk wasn’t the only one publicly opposing the spending package. Trump and Vance released a joint statement urging Republicans to reject the bill.
Trump also posted his opposition on Truth Social. Both Musk and Trump both posted online that any Republican who voted for the package should be voted out of office when their term is up.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who will partner with Musk in leading Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also opposed the bill. Ramaswamy said he read the entire 1,500 pages overnight on Tuesday, Dec. 17, before criticizing it on Wednesday morning.
Prominent House Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas and Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., joined the growing list of GOP lawmakers who opposed the bill.
They argued it was too bloated during a time when Republicans had vowed to prioritize reducing government waste, particularly under Trump’s second term.
Musk’s involvement in DOGE has given him a powerful voice in the political sphere, a voice the Republican Party, including Trump, have embraced.
As the shadow Pres-Elect, Elon Musk is now calling the shots for House Rs on government funding while Trump hides in Mar-a-Lago behind his handlers.
— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) December 18, 2024
It increasingly seems like we’re in for 4 years of an unelected oligarch running the country by pulling on his puppet’s strings. https://t.co/bVaMuxUPW0
However, some Democrats have criticized Musk’s influence. New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman posted on X, calling Musk the “shadow president-elect” for the Republican Party. Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders accused Republicans of being more beholden to Musk than to the American people.
Johnson defended the bill when he introduced it. He told Fox News, that reducing government waste would have to wait until the new Congress in January 2025.
He called the situation an “impossible position” and argued that passing the bill was necessary to prevent a shutdown. However, by late Wednesday, Johnson was back at the drawing board.
Johnson’s initial support for the bill sparked questions within his own party about whether he was the right leader for the House.
Trump weighed in on this as well, stating that as long as Johnson “acts decisively and tough” and “eliminates traps set by Democrats,” he would “easily remain Speaker.”
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