{"id":36077,"date":"2024-12-18T23:18:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T05:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=36077"},"modified":"2024-12-19T01:20:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T07:20:53","slug":"trump-brings-chaos-back-to-washington-by-attempting-to-kill-bipartisan-budget-deal-with-musks-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=36077","title":{"rendered":"Trump brings chaos back to Washington by attempting to kill bipartisan budget deal with Musk\u2019s help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President-elect Donald Trump<\/u><\/a> delivered a likely death blow to bipartisan congressional budget negotiations<\/u><\/a> on Wednesday, rejecting the measure as full of giveaways to Democrats after billionaire ally Elon Musk whipped up outrage toward the bill and cheered on Republican lawmakers who announced their opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance, which stopped the bill in its tracks, punctuated a daylong torrent of social media posts by Musk attacking the legislation for what he described as excessive spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStop the steal of your tax dollars!\u201d Musk wrote on his social media platform X as he dangled primary challenges against anyone who voted for the budget deal, a threat Trump later echoed in a post of his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The episode showcased the growing political influence of Musk, whom Trump has selected alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency<\/u><\/a>, a nongovernmental task force formed to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and reduce regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky, said his office was flooded with calls from constituents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy phone was ringing off the hook,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people who elected us are listening to Elon Musk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his statement with Vance, Trump said Republicans should restart negotiations over the legislation, arguing that \u201canything else is a betrayal of our country.\u201d He also called for including an extension of the debt ceiling while President Joe Biden is in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIncreasing the debt ceiling is not great but we\u2019d rather do it on Biden\u2019s watch,\u201d they said. \u201cIf Democrats won\u2019t cooperate on a debt ceiling increase now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let\u2019s have this debate over the debt ceiling now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s opposition to what was considered must-pass legislation reinjected a sense of chaos and political brinkmanship that was reminiscent of his first term in office. It was a dramatic turn of events for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who negotiated the bill and has been undermined by Trump as he faces reelection for his post in just a couple of weeks. Republicans have a slim majority, raising the possibility of a replay of leadership disputes<\/u><\/a> that paralyzed the House a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many lawmakers were in the middle of holiday and year-end celebrations with staff when Trump came out against the legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here 14 years, OK? So nothing up here surprises me anymore,\u201d said Rep. Steve Womack, a senior Republican appropriator from Arkansas. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be in this mess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration criticized the possibility of a shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRepublicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,\u201d said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a veteran of Washington\u2019s budget battles, was concerned about the lack of a clear plan for resolving the dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s got to be a second part of the strategy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norquist has been enthusiastic about Musk\u2019s ability to generate public attention for efforts to reduce the size of government. But he suggested that the owner of a space rocket company wasn\u2019t the right person to spearhead a congressional spending debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know politics like he knows physics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But others were thrilled with Musk\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn five years in Congress, I\u2019ve been awaiting a fundamental change in the dynamic,\u201d posted Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican from North Carolina. \u201cIt has arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk began criticizing the measure as soon as it was released Tuesday evening, and he continuously posted about it Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!\u201d he wrote. He also called it \u201cone of the worst bills ever written.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes Musk amplified false claims, such as the idea that the legislation included $3 billion for a new football stadium in Washington. In reality, the legislation would transfer ownership of the land from the federal government to the city, paving the way for eventual development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk appeared emboldened by the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe voice of the people was heard,\u201d Musk wrote. \u201cThis was a good day for America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said the fallout would be Republicans\u2019 fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

apnews<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President-elect Donald Trump delivered a likely death blow to bipartisan congressional budget negotiations on Wednesday, rejecting the measure as full of giveaways to Democrats after billionaire ally Elon Musk whipped up outrage toward the bill and cheered on Republican lawmakers who announced their opposition. Trump\u2019s joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance, which stopped the bill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[31694,1213,1330,6748,1230,1227],"class_list":["post-36077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-budget-deal","tag-chaos","tag-musk","tag-sabotage","tag-trump","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36079,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36077\/revisions\/36079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}