Elon Musk experienced political failure for the first time after the Republican spending deal he backed and newly elected President Donald Trump was voted down in the House of Representatives late Thursday.
Speaker Mike Johnson rushed to draft the last-minute bill to avoid a government shutdown after Trump and Musk abandoned his original plan as the clock ticks down on Friday’s deadline.
But the new bill, backed by the tech billionaire, failed spectacularly on a 174-235 vote, with far-right Republicans joining nearly every Democrat in voting against it in the Republican Party-controlled House.
Musk, the co-chair of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), posted a series of messages on X after the bill went up in flames, blaming Democrats.
‘A super fair and simple bill was put to the vote and only two Democrats in Congress were in favor. Therefore, the responsibility for the shutdown rests squarely on the shoulders of @RepJeffries,” he wrote, tagging the minority leader who was not involved in drafting the bill.
In another post, he wrote “Shame on @RepJeffries for rejecting a fair and simple spending bill that is desperately needed for states suffering from hurricane damage!”
Jeffries spoke out against the bill before the vote, criticizing the world’s richest man and the Republican speaker for the last-minute fight.
‘The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It’s laughable,” he said.
Elon Musk gets his first taste of political defeat in the House of Representatives after Democrats and conservative Republicans voted down a Trump-backed spending deal at the last minute to avoid a government shutdown
The Republicans’ proposed 11th-hour spending deal was just 116 pages, unlike the nearly 1,600-page bill that was previously negotiated before Trump and Musk proposed it.
But the Republican Party’s bill also included a provision to suspend the debt ceiling until 2027, essentially forcing Democrats to give up one of their only leverage once Trump takes power in January.
Democrats in the room mocked Republicans for fearing Musk and withdrawing the original bill.
“They got scared because President Musk told them, President Musk said don’t do it,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).
It was the latest in a series of blistering takedowns by Democrats asking who is really in charge of the Republican Party: Trump or his near-constant companion?
‘To suggest. What does he know about what people experience when the government closes its doors? Have his employees been fired? Hell no! Was he fired? No!’ DeLauro said as she criticized Republicans who withdrew the negotiated bill.
After the account was frozen, Jeffries went to Bluesky Social where he found ‘the The Musk-Johnson government shutdown bill has been convincingly defeated.”
“MAGA extremists in the GOP are not serious about helping the American working class. They simply do what their wealthy donors and puppet masters wish. Unacceptable,” he added.
Elon Musk weighs in after the last-minute bill backed by the tech billionaire and newly elected president was voted down by Democrats and some conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the Trump-backed bill a “Musk-Johnson”
Late Wednesday, Trump demanded that bill, which he called a “nasty trap.” Democratsbe renegotiated.
He also warned House Republicans against supporting the bloated measure, which includes a pay raise for Congress, additional disaster spending and other unrelated spending measures.
“Any Republican who would be foolish enough to do this should and will get a primary,” he wrote on his TruthSocial platform.
As a result of mounting pressure, Johnson and his leadership team reached an agreement on a much smaller bill (only 116 pages) a day later.
But 38 House Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in voting against it.
After the vote collapsed, newly elected Vice President J.D. Vance also laid the blame on Democrats, telling reporters that they “asked for a shutdown, and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get.”
Musk posted a photo to
President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk pose for a photo during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City. The two hated Johnson’s original spending plan, so they made him change it
Speaker Mike Johnson has drafted and then redrafted legislation in recent days to prevent a government shutdown
Democrats did not agree with the new Trump-backed deal, and Johnson could not afford to lose many Republican defectors.
Republican Rep. Chip Roy railed against the bill, saying Republicans are “very uncertain about deficit reduction.”
Since it didn’t happen, the government will go into a partial shutdown at midnight on Friday.
Honoring Johnson’s work in crafting the new deal, Trump triumphantly posted on Truth Social: “Good luck in Washington!”
“Speaker Mike Johnson and the House of Representatives have reached a very good deal for the American people,” his post continued. “The newly negotiated American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief to those hit hard by the devastating hurricanes.”
Trump also applauded the wording to suspend the debt limit until 2027.
“A very important piece, critical to the America First Agenda, was also added: the date of the highly unnecessary debt ceiling will be postponed by two years, to January 30, 2027,” Trump wrote.
“Now we can make America great again very quickly, and that is what the people have given us a mandate to accomplish. All Republicans, and even Democrats, must do what is best for our country and vote ‘yes’ on this bill tonight!”
After hearing about the slimmer CR on Thursday afternoon, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., vetoed the bill.
He accused extreme MAGA Republicans” who are “driving us toward a shutdown.”
Jeffries called the bill a “Musk-Johnson” deal, prompting the tech billionaire to write on X: “I am not the author of this bill” and credit Trump, Vance and Johnson.
Earlier in the day, Trump had harsher words for Johnson, giving him a clear ultimatum if the speaker wanted to stay in power.
“Anyone who supports a bill that does not take into account the democratic quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be prioritized and removed as quickly as possible,” the president-elect reiterated. Fox News digital A clear warning was issued on Thursday morning.
“If the speaker acts decisively and toughly, and gets rid of all the Democrats’ traps that will destroy our country economically and in other ways, he will easily remain speaker,” he continued.
Johnson’s new CR came after an onslaught of public pressure from Trump ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
After the original 1,500-plus-page bill was posted Tuesday, the DOGE co-chairman began ridiculing the X legislation non-stop to his more than 200 million followers.
Billionaire Musk, who heads Trump’s DOGE agency with Vivek Ramaswamy, led the charge to shoot down the bill he called a “piece of pork.”
He even went so far as to threaten any Republican who votes for the measure by saying he will be fired from Congress in the next election.
“Every member of the House of Representatives or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in two years!” he wrote on X.
Later, Musk wrote the successfully killed bill, something that was later confirmed by Trump’s leadership and the Republican Party in the House of Representatives: “Your elected representatives heard you and now the terrible bill is dead. The voice of the people has triumphed!’
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says the Constitution does not require the speaker to be a member of Congress, opening the door to fresh blood
The back-and-forth between Musk and Johnson has since prompted some members of Congress to muse on whether the billionaire would be a more effective speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the Constitution does not require the speaker to be a member of Congress, opening the door to fresh blood.
“Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk. . . think about it. . . nothing is impossible,” he says, adding that it would be “joy” to see the “collective establishment lose its ever-loving spirit.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she is “open to supporting” Paul’s proposal.
‘The establishment must be destroyed, just like yesterday. This could be the way,” she wrote on X.
She later sent a poll to her constituents asking whether they would support Musk taking the top job in Congress.