By Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson, Andy Sullivan and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday that U.S. lawmakers should reject a stopgap bill that would fund the government through March, raising the likelihood of a partial shutdown when current funding expires at midnight on Friday.
A Trump adviser said the Republican, who returns to the White House on Jan. 20, opposed the bill unveiled Tuesday night, which would fund government agencies at current levels and provide $100 billion for disaster relief.
That could complicate efforts to avert a shutdown that would disrupt everything from air travel to law enforcement days before the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday. It would be the first government shutdown since one that extended through December 2018 into 2019, during Trump’s first four-year White House term.
Congress’s next steps were unclear. Bipartisan agreement will be needed to pass the measure through the House of Representatives, where Republicans have a narrow majority and the Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow edge.
Trump’s comments came after his ally Elon Musk pressured Congress to reject the bill and said those who back it should be voted out of office.
The Tesla (NASDAQ:) chief executive and world’s richest person, who spent more than $250 million to help Trump get elected, has been tasked by Trump to prune the federal budget.
Unless Congress acts, the federal government will run out of money to fund operations on Saturday. Negotiators on Tuesday agreed on a deal to extend funding through March 14.
The tentative deal would have kept the roughly $6.2 trillion federal budget at its current level, and includes $100.4 billion in fresh disaster aid as well as $10 billion in economic aid for farmers.
House Republicans who helped negotiate the bill said Musk’s opposition complicated passage.
“They are very influential guys and people put a lot of stock in what they are saying,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, referring to Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump also tapped to propose ways to cut government spending and who also voiced opposition to the deal.
“There’s never an easy fix to anything around here,” Cole said.
RESTIVE REPUBLICANS
Johnson already faces opposition from many of his fellow Republicans, who object to additional spending and unrelated measures that have been added to the package.
Democrats described Musk’s proposal to pass no new legislation until Trump takes office on Jan. 20 — which would mean a month-long government shutdown — as evidence that the chaos that has marked the House Republican majority of the past two years could continue into Trump’s four-year term.
“Any American can weigh in, but what we need to do is fund government, and it’s a good test of who the responsible party is to fund government before the holidays,” Democratic Representative Ro Khanna told Reuters.”
Trump in the past has sometimes voiced support for government shutdowns, and the 2018-2019 one was the longest in U.S. history, lasting 34 days.
Musk has emerged as one of the biggest spenders in U.S. politics this year, and his threat could resonate with some Republicans. It likely carries less weight with Democrats who represent solidly liberal areas, or senators from both parties who will not be up for reelection for another six years. Musk tried and failed in November to influence the outcome of the Senate Republicans’ leadership contest.
‘PLENTY OF VOTES’
Prior to the news of Trump’s opposition, several House Republicans said they would vote for the package despite Musk’s opposition.
“I’m not sure he understands the plight of working people when it comes especially to farmers and people devastated by disasters,” said Representative Glenn Thompson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee. He predicted the bill would pass “with plenty of votes.”
Johnson was considering bringing the bill up for a vote using a maneuver that bypasses hardline members of his party, according to a House leadership staffer with knowledge of his plans. That method would require a two-thirds majority, rather than the simple majority usually needed in the House.
Johnson has used that approach repeatedly, relying heavily on Democratic support to pass measures opposed by parts of his fractious majority.
A wide range of government services would be disrupted if Congress does not act before Saturday, including agencies like the Pentagon and NASA that do business with Musk’s companies.
