Two new, loud voices have joined the discourse surrounding House Speaker Mike Johnson’s short-term funding patch as he deals with backlash from House Republicans.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the pair of co-chairs for the new Department of Government Efficiency, were tasked by President-elect Donald Trump to develop policy recommendations to slash government funding and have spurred a DOGE craze among lawmakers.
And they don’t like Mr. Johnson’s government funding plan.
“This bill should not pass,” Mr. Musk posted on X.
The over 1,500-page funding patch, or continuing resolution as it’s known on Capitol Hill, was released late Tuesday and came filled with over $100 billion in disaster aid for people affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers, and loads of other legislative add-ons to entice lawmakers to support the package.
Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, defended the measure during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday, arguing that conservatives must “clear the decks” for the incoming Trump administration.
The speaker said that he, Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy are in a group chat and discussed the stopgap bill shortly after its release.
He noted that Mr. Ramaswamy recognized that Mr. Johnson was in a tough position: “’This is not directed to you, Mr. Speaker, but we don’t like the spending, and I said ’Guess what, fellas; I don’t either.’”
The bill would extend the government funding deadline until March 14, well into Mr. Trump’s first 100 days, which the speaker contended would let a Republican-controlled trifecta affect the spending process.
Hardliners in the House Freedom Caucus and even more moderate Republicans have come out against the bill, arguing that the measure adds to the federal deficit and comes loaded with policy riders that have grown what could have been a slim government funding extension into a bloated package that some lawmakers say closely resembles a colossal, year-end package known as an omnibus.
Indeed, members of the Freedom Caucus have dubbed the measure a “cramnibus.”
Mr. Johnson chalked up the discourse among Republicans as part of “the sausage-making process” and defended the spending in the package as necessary to deal with the devastation wrought by Helene and Milton and to provide farmers a financial cushion as negotiations continue for the long-await farm bill.
Government funding is set to expire on Friday, giving lawmakers little time to find an alternative to Mr. Johnson’s plan. He framed it as a bitter pill to swallow now that would let Republicans better affect spending when Democrats no longer control the White House and Senate next year.
“And all of our fiscal conservative friends, I’m one of them, will be able to finally do the things that we’ve been wanting to do for the last couple years,” he said.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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