Senators baffled as Trump, Musk throw last-minute spanner in spending plan

What’s new

US senators were stunned when President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk threw a wrench into a bipartisan plan to avert a government shutdown.

Why it matters

Trump’s directive to tank the spending plan threw Congress into chaos as lawmakers now have to go back to the drawing board. They have until Friday – just days before Christmas – to pass the continuing resolution or the government will shut down.

What to know

“This has come as a surprise to me,” Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who represents Maine, told HuffPost’s Igor Bobic.

Vermont Democratic Senator Peter Welch described the development as “lightning out of the sky.”

“Republicans need to GET SMART and TOUGH,” Trump and Vice President JD Vance said in a statement opposing the deal Wednesday night.
They called for raising the debt ceiling, saying that while it’s “not great,” they’d rather see it happen “on Biden’s watch,” referring to outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden.

The statement came after Musk, who will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) starting next year, came out in sharp opposition to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s government aid bill.

“Shutting down the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill,” Musk wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Welch alluded to Musk’s involvement in the idea of ​​the deal, saying, “To have it overturned because of lobbying by one person is a real statement of the weakness of what’s going on in the House of Representatives.”

A number of House Republicans have publicly opposed Johnson’s spending deal in recent days. In light of that, House speakers are reportedly considering cutting $100 billion in disaster relief funds from the package.

That rankled a number of Republican lawmakers.

“If Congressional leaders intend to leave DC before the holidays without passing disaster recovery, they should be prepared to spend Christmas in the Capitol,” North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis wrote on X. “I will use every tool available to block a CR , failing western North Carolina communities in need of long-term security.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham echoed Tillis, saying, “To anyone who thinks disaster relief is pork, come to where I live, look at what happened in my state, in North Carolina and Georgia.”

Graham’s comments were a not-so-subtle allusion to a social media post from Musk, who said: “Have you ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” The post was accompanied by a photo of a printed copy of the bill.

This story is in development. Check back for updates.