'Bent to the will' of Elon Musk: Not all House lawmakers happy with spending bill
After a whirlwind of chaos this week that saw tech billionaire Elon Musk threaten Republicans into blocking a bipartisan funding deal to keep the government open, and the GOP failing to pass a stripped-down partisan version after dozens of their own members defected, the House finally passed a funding bill on Friday evening.
The finished bill — which now heads to the Senate and will likely avert a government shutdown over Christmas — is still pared down compared to what was agreed to before, with provisions like pediatric cancer funding, a deal to return some land to Washington, D.C., and a reform to how health care drug middlemen are paid being stripped out — but notably, the House also ignored President-elect Donald Trump's demand for a massive debt ceiling hike in the bill, setting up a showdown over that issue later this year and possibly giving Democrats leverage to fight for some of those removed provisions again.
Lawmakers and pundits from both parties have largely celebrated the victories this bill gave them — but not all of them.
"We are excited about this outcome," House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said, calling it "America First legislation" and particularly celebrating how it will provide relief to hurricane disaster victims and struggling farmers.
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Democrats, too, were largely happy, with Rep. Don Beyer's (D-VA) deputy chief of staff Aaron Fritschner saying, "The 118th Congress will end with House Democrats hanging together, defeating Trump and Musk, and saving the government from shutting down — again — by legislating from the minority."
But some Democrats, even while celebrating, took shots at the GOP for manufacturing the crisis.
"I am relieved that we were able to avoid a shutdown and pass a bare minimum extension of the Farm Bill," wrote Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR) on X. "At the same time, I am deeply disappointed in Speaker Johnson’s failure to pass a bipartisan deal that would have responsibly funded the government while addressing several top priorities for the American people – from prescription drug reform to addiction treatment. Instead, Speaker Johnson chose to torpedo that bipartisan agreement and send us spiraling toward a shutdown – simply because the richest man in the world told him to do it."
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-CA) had a similar take.
"Thanks to Democrats — once again — we have avoided a shutdown," he said. "If Republicans had simply stuck to the negotiated agreement, we could have prevented the fear & uncertainly of millions of workers who spent these days wondering if they were going to be paid. Instead, President-elect Trump and Republicans bent to the will of the richest man in the world rather than stand up for the American people."
Meanwhile, many Republicans remained enraged that the deal passed without significant spending cuts, with Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) writing, "We simply cannot treat these manufactured shutdown-showdowns as a blank check for more spending ... it has to stop."