Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded on Thursday about Elon Musk’s influence on the spending drama on Capitol Hill.
“If you’re just catching up, the Republican Party, at the behest of the richest man in the world, is on course to shut down the government for the holidays, cut off paychecks for our troops and nutrition benefits for low-income families , just in time for the crisis. Christmas,” the 2016 presidential candidate wrote on X.
Clinton, a former first lady and senator, served in Congress from 2001 to 2009.
Her comments came just as Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson has released a new version of a continuing resolution, or CR, to keep the government open past Friday night’s deadline.
Former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton sounded on Thursday about Elon Musk’s influence on the spending drama on Capitol Hill. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Musk strongly opposed Johnson’s original spending deal with Democrats, threatening to back a primary challenge to any Republican who voted for it.
Without an acceptable deal to push back the government’s funding deadline to March and continue spending at 2024 levels, the government will be partially shut down at midnight on Saturday.
‘HELL NO’: HOUSE DEMS COME OUT ON GOP SPENDING DEAL
But Democrats in the House of Representatives are hesitant latest version of a spending plan. And with $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit by 2024, some conservatives oppose a CR, which pushes the funding deadline to March and keeps spending entirely at 2024 levels.
“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious, it is laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us toward a government shutdown,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., indicated that Democratic leaders would rally their members to vote “no” on the deal.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., lamented that the latest deal was blown up by opposition from conservatives, with input from DOGE leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Everyone agreed with it,” he said, “and then it got blown up by Elon Musk, who has apparently become the fourth branch of government. And that’s just an intolerable way to act.”
“Democrats are going to try to figure out how to save the public good from the wreckage that was just thrown up.”
Chants of “hell no” could be heard in the room where Democrats were meeting after the text of the bill was released.
Elon Musk threatened to support primary challenges to anyone who voted CR. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS DURING A PARTIAL GOVERNMENT LOCKOUT
The latest continuing resolution, or CR, would extend current government funding levels by 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 faced opposition from the right over policy and rider funding.
House lawmakers could vote on the new bill as early as Thursday evening.
It is not immediately clear whether the new deal will go through. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who also led opposition to the original bill, also denounced the new deal.
“More debt. More government. Increase the credit card by $4 trillion without any cuts and cuts. A HARD NO,” Roy wrote on X.
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