Elon Musk’s full-throated opposition to a massive stopgap funding bill forced House GOP leaders to rethink the legislation, leaving in doubt $31 billion in disaster aid and market relief for farmers.
After a barrage of posts on X by the multibillionaire, President-elect Donald Trump also signaled opposition to the bill, raising the possibility that congressional leaders would have to replace the legislation with a relatively “clean” continuing resolution to keep the government funded into 2025.
Unclear Wednesday evening was what such a stripped-down bill would include, although Trump demanded that lawmakers add an increase in the federal debt limit.
In a subsequent statement from the Trump transition, the president-elect left the door open to including farm aid and disaster assistance in a new bill:
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country…”
Vivek Ramaswamy, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency initiative with Musk, noted the farm aid in criticizing the bill in a post on X.
"Keeping the government open until March 14 will cost ~$380BN by itself, but the true cost of this omnibus CR is far greater due to new spending. Renewing the Farm Bill for an extra year: ~$130BN. Disaster relief: $100BN. Stimulus for farmers: $10BN. The Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement: $8BN. The proposal adds at least 65 cents of new spending for every dollar of continued discretionary spending," the post said.
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But House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., told Agri-Pulse Wednesday evening he would oppose a new CR that lacks the economic assistance for farmers. The 1,547-page bill that congressional leaders unveiled Tuesday would provide $10 billion in payments to row crop farmers who have seen market prices fall below their cost of production this year.
“I can't support … the CR if it doesn't have the economic support that we negotiated,” Thompson said. He said the market relief package was popular with many lawmakers. “People were very appreciative of what we were able to put in there,” Thompson said.
Thompson also said any new CR would need to include a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill.
“That would be completely unacceptable” to omit a farm bill extension, Thompson said. “The ramifications of that would be significant on the agriculture industry.”
GOP leaders were expected to bring the original legislation to a vote as soon as Wednesday afternoon, but Musk’s opposition overwhelmed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s effort to get Republicans in line.
“Your elected representatives have heard you and now the terrible bill is dead. The voice of the people has triumphed!” Musk declared in a post at 3:58 p.m. EST.
Late Wednesday night, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Zippy Duvall, issued a statement saying that any new continuing resolution "a farm bill extension, aid to rebuild after natural disasters, economic assistance to bridge the gap until we can get to a new farm bill, and year-round E-15 sales."
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