It is fortunate that Elon Musk is wealthy; he can afford the more than three reams of paper it took to print the behemoth 1,547-page spending bill that is supposed to keep the government operating through March.
“Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” Musk posted on X, with a photo of the massive bill printed out and stacked up over seven inches high.
Apparently, the feds can’t keep the lights on without your tax dollars funding a new music tourism program, facilitating the redevelopment of RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., or giving Congress a pay raise.
The bill also includes a one-year extension of the Global Engagement Center, which has engaged in censorship of conservative reporters, as The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland previously reported.
“This bill should not pass,” Musk wrote, noting a post from Vivek Ramaswamy indicating he was reading the bill.
This skepticism could put a damper on the rush to pass the bill on Friday, because Musk’s and Ramaswamy’s words carry extra weight now. Musk and Ramaswamy will lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) once President-Elect Donald Trump officially takes office in January.
Offering a taste of what it will be like when DOGE is in action, the official DOGE account on X warned, “Any Republican who votes for this 1,500 page of government waste will be added to the list of potential primary targets. Please share this far & wide so they know they have officially been warned.”
DOGE was created to stop excess spending as the United States drives over a financial cliff. This bill is filled with exactly the kind of unnecessary spending DOGE aims to eliminate, and very soon, Musk and Ramaswamy will sit down with carving knives and start trimming excess spending.
So why add to the mess right now? Weak, last-minute negotiations.
Speaker Mike Johnson promised a streamlined bill months ago, but just as in past years, here we are days before the end of authorized government spending, negotiating in crisis mode with the threat of a government shutdown motivating decisions.
It is scaremongering for the public so this bitter pill will go down easier, even though the public really just wants Congress to get its work done on time. Truck drivers, food service workers, trash haulers, tax preparers, and everyone who works in the real world manages to meet deadlines every day. Why can’t Congress?
Lawmakers have three days to read the bill and will vote on Friday.
Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
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