House Republican and Democratic leaders held separate meetings with members of their own caucuses Thursday morning to try to pick up the pieces on government funding after President-elect Donald Trump threw a wrench into Congress’ bipartisan deal.
While House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has offered no insights into his plan for placating restless Republicans — from his own members to Trump to Elon Musk — it appeared likely that any new proposal from the GOP would include some level of disaster relief funding, agricultural aid and a one-year farm bill extension.
That’s because even though Trump and Musk, the president-elect’s increasingly outspoken and influential adviser, spent Wednesday evening demanding a “clean” government funding deal that does not include any Democratic priorities, Johnson will need the support of both Republicans and Democrats, who support disaster and farm aid, to pass any stopgap.
To be sure, however, plans to avert a shutdown this weekend were completely up in the air as of Thursday at noon, and the dozens of bipartisan riders on the continuing resolution released this week — including numerous environmental provisions — remained at risk of falling out.
