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Elon Musk lashed out at Democratic Home Minority chief Hakeem Jeffries after the congressional spending invoice he had insisted on, together with a suspension of the debt restrict and the removing of various concessions to the opposition, tanked within the Home of Representatives on Thursday night time, leaving the US authorities hurtling in direction of one other federal shutdown.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s persevering with decision (CR) – which changed a model he had spent weeks fastidiously crafting with Democrats after Musk and President-elect Donald Trump abruptly objected to it – was comprehensively voted down by 235 votes to 174.
The debacle sends the speaker again to the drafting board and scrambling towards the clock to search out an alternative choice to fulfill all events earlier than Friday’s midnight deadline.
“A super fair & simple bill was put to a vote and only 2 Democrats in Congress were in favor. Therefore, responsibility for the shutdown rests squarely on the shoulders of Hakeem Jeffries,” the world’s richest man reacted on X, the social media platform he owns, within the aftermath of the humiliating vote.
“Shame on Hakeem Jeffries for rejecting a fair & simple spending bill that is desperately needed by states suffering from hurricane damage!” he added in a follow-up publish.
The president-elect, who befriended the SpaceX and Tesla boss within the ultimate months of this yr’s presidential election after which appointed him to co-run a brand new “Department of Government Efficiency”, responded to the debacle in an announcement of his personal that likewise blamed the opposition.
“Nearly every single House Democrat just voted against government funding and to shut down the government,” Trump mentioned.
“These 197 Democrats voted against keeping the government open, disaster relief, and aid for farmers.
“As Vice President-elect JD Vance said, Democrats ‘asked for a shutdown and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get.’”
However regardless of Musk and Trump’s efforts to unfold the blame, no fewer than 38 Republicans additionally refused to again the invoice, leaving Johnson in a sweat and a bipartisan deal nonetheless wanted to avert Christmas chaos in Washington.
Elon Musk visiting Capitol Hill earlier this month (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)
Jeffries himself responded with a publish on Bluesky that learn: “The Musk-Johnson government shutdown bill has been soundly defeated.
“MAGA extremists in the House GOP are not serious about helping working class Americans. They are simply doing the bidding of their wealthy donors and puppeteers. Unacceptable.”
The state of affairs represents the primary style of political defeat for Musk exactly one month earlier than the incoming Trump administration even takes workplace.
The difficulty started on Wednesday when Johnson trailed the unique congressional spending invoice he had negotiated with Democrats that might have funded the federal government till March 14 subsequent yr and supplied $100bn in catastrophe reduction for hurricane-hit states and $10bn for farmers.
Hoping to get the CR signed off in order that he and his fellow lawmakers may head house for the vacations, the speaker was caught off guard when Musk started posting his objections to it on X and declared it “should not pass”.
An announcement from Trump and Vance duly adopted, warning Home Republicans to not help it and that they may face a major problem in the event that they did, demanding a “streamlined” CR as an alternative that might droop or abolish the debt ceiling to permit for additional borrowing.
Johnson obediently scrapped his near-1,600 web page authentic settlement in favour of a a lot slimmer 116-page one giving the president-elect exactly what he needed, just for Jeffries to dismiss it as “laughable” earlier than handing down a crushing defeat within the Home.
Earlier than the vote, Trump had hailed “SUCCESS in Washington!” in a publish on Reality Social and backed Johnson forward of his bid to retain the speakership in January amid rising GOP discontent and MAGA strategies that the unelected Musk ought to take his place.
However his staff has additionally been pressured to angrily hit again at strategies from Democrats like Bernie Sanders and others that it’s Musk who’s the true president-elect and calling the photographs.
