Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded off Thursday about Elon Musk’s influence over the spending drama on Capitol Hill.
“If you’re just catching up: the Republican Party, taking orders from the world’s richest man, is on course to shut down the government over the holidays, stopping paychecks for our troops and nutrition benefits for low-income families just in time for Christmas,” the 2016 presidential candidate wrote on X.
Clinton, a former first lady and senator, was in Congress from 2001 to 2009.
Her comments came just as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., released a new version of a continuing resolution, or CR, to keep the government open beyond a Friday night deadline.
Musk came out in strong opposition to the original spending deal Johnson negotiated with Democrats, threatening to back a primary challenge to any Republican who voted for it.
Without a passable deal to kick the government funding deadline to March and continue spending at 2024 levels, the government will go into partial shutdown at midnight Saturday.
But House Democrats are balking at the latest iteration of a spending plan. And with $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2024, some conservatives are against a CR, which punts the funding deadline to March and keeps spending at 2024 levels, entirely.
“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious, it’s laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., indicated Democratic leadership would whip their members to vote “no” on the deal.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., lamented that the last deal had been blown up by opposition from conservatives, with input from Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Everybody agreed,” he said, “and then it was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government. And that’s just an intolerable way of proceeding.
“Democrats are going to try to figure out how we can salvage the public good as the wreckage that’s just been pushed.”
Chants of “hell no” could be heard inside the room where Democrats were meeting after the bill’s text was released.
The latest continuing resolution would extend current government funding levels for three months and also suspend the debt limit for two years, something President-elect Trump has demanded.
It comes after the original 1,500-page CR drew opposition from the right due to policy and funding riders.
House lawmakers could vote on the new bill as early as Thursday evening.
It’s not immediately clear if the new deal would pass. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who led opposition to the initial bill, also blasted the new deal.
“More debt. More government. Increasing the Credit Card $4 trillion with ZERO spending restraint and cuts. HARD NO,” Roy wrote on X.
