Mike Johnson Jokingly Asks Elon Musk if He Wants to be House Speaker After Spending Bill Drama; Elon Musk Gives Mike Johnson Sigh of Relief by Endorsing New Spending Bill (WITH UPDATE)
Mike Johnson jokingly asks Elon Musk if he wants to be House speaker after spending bill drama:
House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he jokingly asked Elon Musk if he wanted to take over his job — after the billionaire helped torpedo a major government spending bill on Thursday, resulting in a pared-down version that passed Friday night after two days of intense wrangling.
“Elon Musk and I talked within about an hour ago and we talked about the extraordinary challenges of this job,” Johnson (R-La.) told reporters after the House overwhelmingly passed the final package.
“And I said, ‘Hey, you want to be speaker of the House? I don’t know.’ He said this may be the hardest job in the world. I think it is.”
Musk, the incoming chief of President-elect Donald Trump’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, took on a leading role in tanking an earlier 1,547-page bill, with Johnson then whittling it down to 118 pages with Trump too joining in criticizing the initial version.
House Democrats took to calling the SpaceX and Tesla CEO “President Musk” during debate on the bill.
Musk praised Johnson on Friday evening, tweeting: “The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances. It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court.” —>READ MORE HERE
Elon Musk Gives Mike Johnson Sigh of Relief by Endorsing New Spending Bill:
What’s New
Elon Musk voiced support for GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson’s latest spending bill on Friday, giving him a sigh of relief just hours before a government shutdown could begin.
“This is great,” Musk wrote in a post to X, responding to a separate post outlining some of the measures in the new spending bill.
It came just under an hour after Musk appeared to raise concerns of the bill, asking if it is a “Republican bill or a Democrat bill?”
Why It Matters
The mayhem over the spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), underscores Musk’s growing influence in the GOP after backing President-elect Donald Trump in this year’s presidential race. Musk was instrumental in sinking the bill introduced by Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, earlier this week. After rallying members of Congress against it, Trump sided with Musk in opposing the bill.
If Congress is unable to reach a deal to fund the federal government by the end of Friday, a government shutdown would begin after midnight, just days before Christmas. A shutdown would have implications for millions of Americans, including those workers who would be furloughed or required to work without pay. It could also put strains on travel ahead of one of the busiest weeks of the year.
What to Know
Musk’s praise for the bill may give Johnson a sigh of relief, as his opposition would run the risk of sparking another GOP revolt over the bill. But it doesn’t necessarily mean the bill will pass. The CR is not going through the rules committee, meaning it will need two-thirds of Congress for its support. —>READ MORE HERE
+++++ U P D A T E +++++ —>Biden signs bill that averts a government shutdown and brings a close to days of Washington upheaval
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