President-elect Donald Trump predicted that House Speaker Mike Johnson would “easily” hold onto the gavel if he course-corrects on the government funding package that has plunged Republicans into an open revolt.
Trump, 78, and Vice President-elect JD Vance, 40, maneuvered Wednesday to completely kill the bipartisan deal to avert a partial government shutdown amid mounting GOP backlash. The incoming president wants Johnson (R-La.), 52, to dramatically overhaul the plan.
“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 told Fox News.
On Tuesday evening, congressional leaders had unveiled the stopgap funding plan, which would’ve staved off a shutdown at midnight Friday into Saturday and kept the government’s lights on through March 14, 2025.
But that 1,547-page bill was laden with an assortment of add-ons such as $100 billion in disaster relief, $10 billion in assistance for farmers, what would’ve been the first congressional pay raise since 2009, support for returning the Washington Commanders to the RFK Stadium site and more.
Republicans erupted in open revolt, while Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy turned on the speaker and urged Republicans to kill the bill.
Trump had initially been mum. Then later in the day Wednesday, he and Vance demanded the GOP rip out “Democrat giveaways” and work in an increase to the debt ceiling.
“Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump and Vance declared in a joint statement.
The remarkable shift against the GOP speaker raised questions about the extent to which Trump and Johnson coordinated on the funding bill. Both men have been in contact and were seen talking at the Army-Navy game over the weekend.
Last year, following a nasty funding flap, Congress agreed to suspend the debt ceiling, the cap on the government’s borrowing authority, until early 2025. That means it is poised to become a tricky issue for the next administration to address early on at a time when Trump will be eyeing a broader legislative agenda.
Vance met with Johnson for about an hour Wednesday evening and later claimed to have had a “productive conversation,” without divulging too many specifics.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) has indicated to reporters that the funding deal that was rolled out publicly late Tuesday has fallen by the wayside.
“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,” Trump added to Fox News about the funding bill.
Multiple Republicans have publicly yanked their support for Johnson retaining the speaker’s gavel amid a brewing mutiny.
“He does not have my vote,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) bluntly told CNN during the funding row.
From the other chamber, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested his colleagues in the House contemplate Musk to serve as speaker.
“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),” he posted on X.
The vote for the House speaker is set to take place when the new Congress gets sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025.
Johnson is up against the clock and has been in a bind. He has a couple of members of the House Republican caucus who may very well be opposed to almost any spending patch to avert a shutdown.
That means he will likely need Democratic support to get the measure through the House. From there, it needs to clear the Democrat-controlled Senate and win President Biden’s signature.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) wrote on X.
“You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow.”
Meanwhile, as GOP leadership races to cobble together a plan B on the funding measure, the White House is lashing out at them for the chaos.
“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hard-working Americans and create instability across the country,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre chided in a statement.