Trump opposes funding deal, bringing US a step closer to government shutdown
Donald Trump, not yet in office, asks Congress to raise debt ceiling and rewrite spending bill days before funding expires
US President-elect Donald Trump urged Republican lawmakers Wednesday to scupper a cross-party deal to avert a fast-looming US government shutdown, as the White House accused him of “playing politics”.
Staring down a Friday night deadline to fund federal agencies, party leaders in Congress had agreed on a “continuing resolution” (CR) to keep the lights on until mid-March and avoid having to send public workers home without pay over Christmas.
But the compromise was pilloried by numerous Republicans – most notably tech billionaire Elon Musk, whom Trump has charged with slashing government spending in his second term.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has emerged as a major voice in US politics and took to his X platform with a flurry of posts – many of them inaccurate – denouncing extra spending in the text that ballooned costs.
Trump holds huge sway over Republicans and his intervention makes it almost certain that the bill will fail.
