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By Sonam Sheth
Evening Politics Editor
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What's New
U.S. senators were stunned when President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk threw a wrench into a bipartisan plan to avert a government shutdown.
Why It Matters
Trump's directive to tank the spending plan threw Congress into chaos and sent lawmakers back to the drawing board. They have until Friday—just days before Christmas—to pass the continuing resolution, or the government will shut down.
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What To Know
"This has come as a surprise to me," Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine told HuffPost's Igor Bobic, per Bobic's post on X, formerly Twitter.
Democratic Vermont Senator Peter Welch described the developments as "a bolt of lightning coming out of the sky," Bobic added on X.
"Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH," Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance said in a statement opposing the deal on Wednesday evening.
They called to increase the debt ceiling, saying that while it's "not great," they would rather see it happen "on Biden's watch," referring to outgoing President Joe Biden.
The statement came after Musk, who will co-direct the Department of Government Efficiency with Vivek Ramaswamy next year, came out in sharp opposition to House Speaker Mike Johnson's government funding bill.
"'Shutting down' the government (which doesn't actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill," Musk wrote in an X post.
Welch alluded to Musk's involvement in tanking the deal: "To have it overturned because of the lobbying of one person is a real statement of the weakness of what's going on in the House [of Representatives]."
Democratic Senator Tina Smith, who represents Minnesota, was at a loss for words after Trump torpedoed the spending plan.
"I can't even—" she said while walking into an elevator. "I really can't even ... I can't even think about—." The elevator doors closed before she could finish her sentence, according to Bobic.
Several House Republicans have publicly opposed Johnson's spending deal in recent days. The speaker reportedly might slash $100 billion in disaster relief funds from the package, rankling a number of Republican lawmakers.
"If Congressional leaders intend to leave DC before the holidays without passing disaster recovery, they should be prepared to spend Christmas in the Capitol," North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis wrote on X. "I'll use every tool available to block a CR that fails Western North Carolina communities in need of long-term certainty."
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham echoed Tillis: "To anybody who thinks that disaster relief is pork, come to where I live, see what happened in my state, in North Carolina and Georgia."
Graham's comment was an apparent reference to a social media post from Musk, which said, "Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?" The post was accompanied by a photo of a printed copy of the bill.
What People Are Saying
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X: "House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow."
The White House said in a statement: "Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country ... Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones and endanger the basic services Americans from veterans to Social Security recipients rely on. A deal is a deal. Republicans should keep their word."
What Comes Next
Congress now has two days to vote on a continuing resolution to keep the government open.
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