Musk influences Congress in shutdown drama

A curious thing happened on the path to a bipartisan agreement to fund US government operations and avoid a partial shutdown this week.

Conservatives in Congress, encouraged by tech billionaire Elon Musk, opposed it.

Republicans attempted to regroup Thursday afternoon, offering a slimmed-down new package to fund the government. That vote failed, as 38 Republicans joined the majority of Democrats in voting against it.

All this political drama offers just a taste of the chaos and unpredictability that could await under a unified Republican government in Washington next year.

The man at the center of this week’s drama has no official position or position in the government. What Elon Musk does have, however, is hundreds of billions of dollars, a social media megaphone, and the ear of not only the president of the United States but also rank-and-file conservatives in Congress.

On Wednesday morning, the tech mogul attacked X, which he bought for $44 billion two years ago, to disparage a compromise Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson had made with Democrats to temporarily fund the US government operations until mid-March.

As the number of his posts about the proposed deal reached triple digits, at times amplifying factually inaccurate accusations made by conservative commentators, opposition to the legislation grew in Congress.

And on Wednesday night, Donald Trump – perhaps feeling he needed to get in front of the growing conservative uprising – publicly declared that he, too, opposed the government funding bill.

He said it contained wasteful spending and Democratic priorities, while demanding that Congress take the politically sensitive step of raising — or even eliminating — the legal limit on newly issued U.S. debt that the United States would reach sometime next summer.

Support for the stopgap spending bill then collapsed, forcing Johnson and his leadership team to scramble to find an alternative path forward. As they did so, Musk celebrated and proclaimed that “the voice of the people has triumphed.”

However, it is perhaps more accurate to say that it was Musk’s voice that triumphed.

On Thursday afternoon, Republicans unveiled a new proposal that suspended the debt limit for the first two years of Trump’s second term, funded the government through March and included some disaster relief and other measures included in the original financing package.

But Musk’s involvement may not sit well with some lawmakers. Democrats in the House joked about “President Musk,” while even some Republicans complained publicly.

“WHO?” Pennsylvania Republican Glenn Thompson responded when asked about Musk. “I don’t see it in the bedroom.”

Musk may have been the instigator, but this latest congressional funding crisis reveals what has been – and will likely continue to be – an ongoing challenge to the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

For two years, House Republicans have struggled to maintain a united front amid a party populated, at least in part, by politicians with an active disdain for the government they help run.

Internal divisions delayed Kevin McCarthy’s election as House speaker in January 2022 and led to his impeachment – ​​for the first time in US history – the following year. Johnson eventually replaced him, but only after weeks of leaderless limbo.

Some Republicans hoped that with Trump’s election, members of their majority, which will shrink further when the new Congress is sworn in next month, would be more willing to march in unison to support the new president’s agenda. And some are.

“I think President Trump pretty much laid out the plan, so I don’t know what the discussions are about,” Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna told reporters after internal Republican meetings Thursday afternoon.

What this week has revealed, however, is that the president-elect may not always offer the legislature the clear and consistent direction it requires.

His insistence on raising the debt limit, for example, took many in his own party by surprise. And outside influences, such as those from Musk or others, could inject additional instability into the process.

If Republicans fail to achieve near unanimity in the House, they will have to find ways to win over Democrats if they want to achieve any kind of legislative success. And what this week demonstrated (once again) is that the kind of political compromises needed could lead to greater numbers of Republican defections.

Trump’s party will be challenged to govern effectively on its own, but it may also not be able to tolerate governing with the help of Democrats.

Failure to achieve political balance in the chamber would put Trump’s most ambitious legislative priorities at risk before he even takes office.

Republicans may still find a way to avoid a prolonged government shutdown through a temporary budget resolution, even though Trump’s first round of pressure resulted in an embarrassing failure to gain enough support within his own party.

For Johnson, however, the damage may already have been done. His authority over House Republicans has been undermined – first by Musk and then by Trump – just weeks before he stands for re-election as House speaker.

One Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, has already said he will not support Johnson’s re-election. Others, including members of Johnson’s own leadership team, have not committed. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Georgia congresswoman who unsuccessfully pushed to recall Johnson in May, suggested that Musk become a spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Trump – the only man who could give Johnson a lifeline – has been ambiguous, telling Fox News that Johnson could “easily” remain president if he “acts decisively and tough.”

However, the decision may not be enough when all the speaker’s instructions seem to lead to a dead end.