Trump joins Elon Musk in opposing House GOP government funding bill

elected president donald trump on Wednesday spoke out against a Republican-backed government funding bill, taking sides Elon Muskthe crusade against the package and increasing the odds of a government shutdown.

Trump opposes the continuing resolution introduced by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to a source familiar with the president-elect’s thinking, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

The source confirmed that Trump he told a Fox News anchor is “totally against” the CR.

Later Wednesday afternoon, the Vice President-elect and Sen. JD VanceR-Ohio, released a joint statement from him and Trump declaring that politicians should “pass a simplified bill” that doesn’t give Democrats “everything they want.”

“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a combined NO-DEMOCRAT GIFTS temporary funding bill with an increase in the debt ceiling,” read the statement released by Vance to X.

“Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” his statement said.

His opposition adds significant weight to Musk’s sustained all-day effort to shut down the 1,547-page bill, which he says is loaded with unnecessary pork-barrel spending.

If there is no legislation passed by the House and Senate and signed by the president to fund the government after Friday night, the federal government would begin enacting a partial shutdown that could include furloughs.

Musk, whom Trump has tapped to co-lead an advisory group aimed at reducing alleged government waste, didn’t seem worried by the prospect of a government shutdown a week before Christmas.

“Shutting down the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill,” Musk wrote in one of dozens of X publications rail against the CR.

In another postMusk stated that “no bill should be passed” by Congress until Trump takes office on January 20.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers have sided with Musk, which could force Johnson, R-La., to pass the resolution through a process known as a “suspension” of the traditional House rules process.

Passage of pending bills requires the bill to be supported by two-thirds of the House, but bypasses other steps in the procedure.

Democrats would have to join Republicans in passing the stalled bill, and as of Wednesday morning, a CR suspension step appeared to be the most likely path to funding the government.

Johnson said Wednesday morning that he had been texting overnight with Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy about the bill.

“They understand the situation. They said, ‘It’s not aimed at you, Mr. President, but we don’t like the spending.’ I said, ‘Guess what, guys, neither do I,'” Johnson told “Fox & Friends.”

But “we have to do it,” Johnson said he told Musk and Ramaswamy, because “by doing that, we’re clearing the decks” for Trump to enact his agenda.

This is breaking news. Update for updates.