With only days to spare until funds run out, President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have pressured Republicans in the United States to ditch a short-term spending bill designed to avert a government shutdown.The United States Congress faces a Friday deadline to pass a budget for the 2025 fiscal year, or else face the shuttering of nonessential government functions.
But on Wednesday, a volley of statements and social media posts from Trump and his incoming administration threw a bipartisan deal into chaos, increasing the likelihood of a shutdown.
Pressure started to mount early in the day when Trump advisers began to raise objections to the stopgap bill, which would temporarily allow government agencies to keep running at current funding levels.
But the 1,547-page document also includes other measures, including a pay increase for members of Congress, $100bn for disaster relief and $10bn in farm aid.
Pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a former political rival-turned-Trump-surrogate, blasted the bill on social media for what he described as excessive length. Advertisement
“The bill could have easily been under 20 pages. Instead, there are dozens of unrelated policy items crammed into the 1,547 pages of this bill,” he wrote on social media.
“Nearly everyone agrees we need a smaller [and] more streamlined federal government, but actions speak louder than words,” he added. “This is an early test. The bill should fail.”
Billionaire businessman Elon Musk — whom Trump has tapped to work with Ramaswam …
