Musk and Trump bring shutdown chaos to Congress
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2024
⏱️ 20 minutes
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Summary
Today on “Post Reports,” Washington scrambles to avoid a government shutdown. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk have fanned the flames.
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On Wednesday, Republicans scrapped House Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial bipartisan plan to avoid a government shutdown. That’s after President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk condemned the bill online. Musk called it “terrible,” “criminal,” “outrageous,” “horrible,” “unconscionable,” “crazy” and, ultimately, “an insane crime.”
Today on “Post Reports,” host Elahe Izadi and congressional reporter Marianna Sotomayor discuss what Trump and Musk found so objectionable about that first plan, and why some are seeing it as a preview of the kind of power Musk – who’s not even a government official – could soon have over Washington.
Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy and Laura Benshoff, with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores, with help from Lucy Perkins, and mixed by Sam Bair. Thanks also to Emily Rauhala.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week, Congress was supposed to fund the government. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson |
| 0:07.1 | had crafted a bill to keep the government open through the holidays. It was on track to pass. |
| 0:13.4 | That is, until Wednesday, that's when billionaire Elon Musk got involved. |
| 0:21.2 | So early Wednesday morning, it was really the first time we heard from Elon Musk on X, declare that House Republicans should not vote for Johnson's proposal. |
| 0:33.8 | Musk called this proposal criminal. |
| 0:36.5 | And after the hours went on on Wednesday, we did get a very lengthy statement from President-elect Donald Trump, who said that this bill should be dead. |
| 0:48.5 | Mariana Sotomayor covers Congress for the Post. |
| 0:51.3 | And she says this opposition from Trump and his ally Musk spread like |
| 0:56.3 | wildfire across Washington. That quickly reached House Republicans who were already very upset about |
| 1:04.5 | this bill. If anything, I think House Republicans felt like Musk was just amplifying their concerns and was able to reach Trump |
| 1:13.6 | so that Trump could come out and say, don't vote for this bill. |
| 1:20.1 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. I'm Elahe Izadi. It's Thursday, December 19th. Today, Washington scrambles |
| 1:31.8 | to avoid a government shutdown. Congress has until midnight Friday to approve a bill to keep |
| 1:38.4 | the government open. As of Thursday afternoon, House Republicans say they have a new deal after their initial plan was scrapped. |
| 1:46.9 | And we're still learning whether or not this new plan will work. |
| 1:51.4 | But no matter how this all shakes out, this was unexpectedly chaotic. |
| 1:57.0 | So Mariana joins me from the Hill to explain how we got here, the backroom dealings, the Republican infighting, and how Trump and Musk helped fuel this drama. |
| 2:15.6 | So Mariana, once again, we're talking about a possible government shutdown. |
| 2:20.9 | This feels like it happens a lot, a potential government shutdown. |
| 2:25.1 | Why does Congress often find itself in this situation? |
| 2:29.8 | Like, what's the typical process and why does it always have trouble doing this? |
| 2:34.1 | So the government fiscal year ends September of August. Like, what's the typical process and why does it always have trouble doing this? |
... |
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