Trump and Musk send DC in tailspin with spending bill attacks as government shutdown nears: Live updates

Donald Trump doesn’t want to just lift the debt ceiling — he’s keen to get rid of it, telling Garrett Haake of NBC News: “The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge.”

Asked if he still has confidence in Speaker Mike Johnson, he says: “We’ll see. What they had yesterday was unacceptable,” he told me, referring to the Speaker’s continuing resolution. “In many ways it was unacceptable. It’s a Democrat trap.”

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell markedly last week following a big increase the week before.

Jobless claim applications declined by 22,000 to 220,000 for the week of Dec. 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 229,000 analysts were forecasting.

South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace calls for a government shutdown until Donald Trump is sworn as president on January 20, “if there’s no plan” to move forward on a continuing resolution ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline.

Here’s what she wrote on X this morning:

At this point if there is no plan, let the September CR lapse and let’s reset Jan. 20th.

It’s not the scary shutdown the lying media tells you it is. The President has the authority to prioritize spending.

Statutorily if the government shuts down, social security, veterans benefits, Medicare, and Medicaid all still get paid, because they are considered mandatory spending not subject to appropriations.

In the event of a shutdown, OMB or the Office of Management and Budget, develops a contingency plan to decide what stays open and who has to report to work.

I also have a bill called the Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2023. It would appropriate funding for 90 days at 99% of what our current budget is, and lowering an additional 1% per day after 90 days passed.

We should cut spending the easy way (my bill) or the slightly harder one (a partial government shutdown).

Perhaps we could start with paying only those government employees who show up to work.

Might be a good proof point to determine what’s essential and what’s not. We got a lot of junk in the federal government.

Former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz has hinted he may expose lawmakers who he claims made “me too” payoffs to with public funds amid the imminent release of the House Ethics Committee report into his conduct with women.

The flailing Republican admitted Wednesday he “probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked” more than he should have in his 30s after reports of the pending release of the long-running ethics investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with at least one underage girl and drug use while he was in office.

Rhian Lubin and Alex Woodward report.

Donald Trump told Fox News Digital that Mike Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” and eliminates “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the spending package.

“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” the president-elect told the outlet.

“If the speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker,” Trump also said, adding a caveat to his apparent endorsement of Johnson.

A vote for the next speaker is scheduled for January 3. Some names have already floated as potential replacements for Johnson, with Rep Thomas Massie saying he won’t support the speaker’s reelection. House Republicans only have a very slim majority to elect a speaker.

In the Senate, independent lawmaker Rand Paul has suggested the next speaker should be Elon Musk, given that the role does not need to be a sitting member of Congress.

GOP Senator Mitt Romney said on Sunday that MAGA Republicanism now wholly dominates the Republican Party, echoing the skepticism of those who have been waiting for some kind of “post-Trump” Republican Party to emerge.

Romney is one of Trump’s most frequent critics in the GOP and voted for the impeachment of the president-elect in 2021. This election cycle, he opted to retire from Congress rather than face an inevitable primary challenge backed by the former-and-future president.

Mike Johnson could be challenged for the speaker’s chair in the new year as Republican critics draw up a list of potential replacements, according to reports.

Independent US senator Rand Paul is pushing Elon Musk as a potential speaker of the House, as rumors swirl of an effort to replace Mike Johnson.

Paul noted on X: “The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress…”

He continued: “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk … think about it … nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds)