Conservatives are fuming over House Speaker Mike Johnson's spending bill, and Donald Trump's outside allies are leading the charge.
Congressional leaders unveiled a continuing resolution that would avoid a government shutdown for at least three months, but Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-heads of the budge-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, pushed for Republicans to vote against the measure — and suggested any Republican voting for it should lose their seats.
"Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!" Musk posted on X.
"They deserve to be," replied right-wing influencer Laura Loomer. "But they won’t because the GOP is all talk. No action. There is zero accountability and so as a result, nobody takes calls for accountability seriously because instead of being ruthless and punishing politicians, the GOP has promoted a Kumbaya culture of suicidal unity and forgiveness."
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who has been outspoken in his support for Musk and DOGE, responded with the eyes emoji to indicate he was watching the tech CEO's threat to lawmakers who support the spending measure.
"The bill is 1,500 pages long & no one has time to read it. That isn’t a bug. It’s a feature," Ramaswamy posted. "The bill should fail."
"Ok but @elonmusk if you actually want to change things then you need a new Speaker of the House," said Matthew Boyle, Washington bureau chief for Breitbart News. Really easy to get that — just need a handful of House Republicans on Jan. 3 in regularly scheduled vote to say no to Johnson under any circumstances. If Johnson wins again nothing will change — really plain and simple."
"Also VERY important for @elonmusk to know (which most do not know) - The Speaker can be ANY American," added Christian Ziegler, former chair of the Florida GOP. You DO NOT need to be a Member of Congress to be elected Speaker. @elonmusk or @VivekGRamaswamy could serve or bring in someone else as a CRO - Chief Restructuring Officer."
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The president-elect was notably quiet on the topic and Johnson's leadership.
"This is quickly becoming untenable for House Republican leadership, which has elevated Musk as an authority on federal spending," said Jake Sherman, founder of Punchbowl News.
"GOP Rep. Thomas Massie says he will NOT vote for Johnson for speaker in January," added Melanie Zanona, senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl. "He will say someone else’s name instead of voting 'present.'"
"Musk is fully against the CR and hammering at it," noted The Bulwark's Sam Stein. "Vivek is against the CR. Johnson has texted with both. Breitbart is urging the ouster of Johnson for the CR. Romney is asking Trump to weigh in. Trump is silent."