Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership team is quietly discussing a plan B to fund the government amid conservative opposition and vocal criticism from incoming President Donald Trump’s top ally Elon Musk.
The Louisiana Republican is discussing dropping $100 billion in disaster aid plus other attachments and instead passing a “clean CR” — then dealing with the other issues in the new year, according to two Republicans with knowledge of the conversations. In addition to disaster aid, that would mean dropping $30 billion for farmers, and a one-year extension of the farm bill, among other items, at least for now.
Johnson has not made a final decision. But if he shifts strategies it would be a boon for his right flank, which has railed publicly against the current spending bill and revived a dormant threat to Johnson’s speakership. Many of those conservatives don’t typically support stopgap spending bills — most of the additions to the bill were designed to appease other Republicans, as well as Democrats.
Some Republicans believe Musk’s criticisms encouraged even more House GOP members to oppose the spending plan that Johnson and his leadership rolled out Tuesday night. Musk, who has been charged with cutting government spending, wrote on X that the spending bill “should not pass” and that any lawmaker who votes for it “deserves to be voted out in 2 years.”
"I think it's having an effect on some people,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) asked if Musk’s tweets were moving votes within the Capitol. "I think it probably is.”
Musk's decision to weigh in has frustrated some Republicans who have long viewed him as a potential ally in their charge to cut spending, something virtually all Republicans want to do. The GOP doesn’t control all the levers of power until next year and is, therefore, limited in its ability to write spending bills that the party favors. Some Republicans are already privately grumbling that Musk — while clearly a successful businessman — doesn't understand the ways of Washington, where spending bills must be bipartisan.
Democrats would be less likely to lend their votes on a stopgap funding resolution if their hard-won concessions like disaster aid, funding to repair the Francis Scott Key Bridge and other provisions fell out of the package. But some purple-district Democrats might feel pressure to vote for the package to keep the lights on anyway.
“I was communicating with Elon last night,” Johnson said Wednesday on Fox & Friends. “Elon, Vivek [Ramaswamy] and I were on a text chain together, and I was explaining to them the background of this. And Vivek and I talked last night, about almost midnight, and he said, ‘Look, I get it.’ He said, ‘We understand you’re in an impossible position. Everybody knows that.’”
Of course, Johnson’s spending plan was giving him heartburn before Musk even weighed in. Conservatives were always going to have a problem with increased spending.
"Look, I welcome Elon to the fight. I've been doing this a long time, I spoke out against it yesterday,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.).
Switching to a clean spending bill won’t totally solve Johnson’s problems. He’ll still need help from Democrats to pass even a clean stopgap bill — some conservatives still won’t vote for it, even without the add-ons.
But the current spending plan is sparking widespread opposition from dozens of Republicans, including some typical Johnson allies. There was open skepticism among House Republicans that Johnson would be able to get a majority of the majority for his current spending strategy, which would put him on shaky ground going into the Jan. 3 speakership race.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie on Wednesday became the first Republican to say that he will vote for someone else besides Johnson for speaker. Several others said they are uncommitted to backing Johnson, who can’t become speaker if he gets more than one GOP “no” vote early next month.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
