A funny thing happened on the way to a bipartisan agreement to fund US government operations and avoid a partial shutdown this week.
But conservatives in Congress — encouraged by tech billionaire Elon Musk — refused.
Republicans tried to regroup Thursday afternoon, presenting a new, watered-down package to fund the government. That vote failed, with 38 Republicans joining most Democrats in voting no.
All this political drama offers only a glimpse of the chaos and unpredictability that could be in store for the country under unified Republican rule in Washington next year.
The man at the center of this week's drama holds no title or official government role. However, what Elon Musk does have are hundreds of billions of dollars, a megaphone on social media, and the ear of not only the President of the United States, but also rank-and-file conservatives in Congress.
On Wednesday morning, the tech mogul took aim at Company
As the number of his posts about the proposed agreement rose into the triple digits, sometimes amplifying inaccurate claims made by conservative commentators, opposition to the legislation grew in Congress.
By Wednesday evening, Donald Trump — perhaps sensing that he needed to confront the growing conservative uprising — publicly stated that he, too, opposed the government funding bill.
He said it contained wasteful spending and Democratic priorities, while also calling on Congress to take the politically sensitive step of raising — or even canceling — the legal maximum on newly issued U.S. debt, which the United States will reach sometime next summer.
Support for the stopgap spending bill then collapsed, forcing Johnson and his leadership team to seek an alternative path forward. As they did so, Musk celebrated, declaring that “the voice of the people has won.”
However, it would be accurate to say that it was Musk's voice that won out.
On Thursday afternoon, Republicans unveiled a new proposal that suspends the debt limit for the first two years of Trump's second term, funds the government through March, and includes some of the disaster relief and other measures included in the original funding package.
But Musk's participation may not be well received by some lawmakers. Democrats in the chamber joked about “President Musk,” while a few Republicans complained publicly.
“from?” Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Glenn Thompson responded when asked about Musk. “I don't see him in the room.”
Musk may have been the instigator, but the recent funding crisis in Congress exposes what has been — and likely will remain — an ongoing challenge to the narrow Republican majority in the House.
For two years, House Republicans have struggled to maintain a united front amid a party populated, at least in part, by politicians with an active disdain for the government they help run.
Internal divisions delayed the election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives in January 2022, and led to his impeachment – for the first time in American history – the following year. Eventually, Johnson replaced him, but only after weeks of leadershiplessness.
Some Republicans had hoped that with Trump's election, members of their majority, which will become slimmer when the new Congress is sworn in next month, would be more willing to step in to support the new president's agenda. And some are.
“I think the plan was largely created by President Trump, so I don’t know what the discussions are,” Ana Paulina Luna, a Florida congresswoman, told reporters after internal GOP meetings Thursday afternoon.
But what this week revealed is that the president-elect may not always provide the Legislature with the clear, consistent direction it requires.
For example, his insistence on raising the debt limit surprised many in his party. External influences, such as Musk or others, could inject further instability into the process.
If Republicans cannot reach near-consensus in the House, they will have to find ways to win over Democrats if they want to achieve any kind of legislative success. What this week showed (again) is that the kind of necessary political compromises can lead to a greater number of Republican defections.
Trump's party will face the challenge of governing effectively on its own – but it also may not be able to tolerate governing with the help of Democrats.
If there is no political balance in the chamber, this would jeopardize Trump's most ambitious legislative priorities even before he takes office.
Republicans may find a way to avoid a prolonged government shutdown through a temporary budget resolution, although Trump's first round of pressure resulted in an embarrassing failure to win enough support within his party.
But for Johnson, the damage may have already been done. His power over House Republicans was undermined – first by Musk and then by Trump – just a few weeks before he ran for re-election as Speaker of the House.
One Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, has said he will not support Johnson's re-election. Others, including members of Johnson's leadership team, were noncommittal. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the controversial Georgia congresswoman who unsuccessfully pushed for Johnson's impeachment in May, suggested Musk could become party chairman.
Meanwhile, Trump — the only man who could offer Johnson a lifeline — was ambiguous, telling Fox News that Johnson could “easily” remain president if he “acts decisively and tough.”
But decisiveness may not be enough when the speaker's every direction seems to lead to a dead end.
