Musk Trump blocked Biden administration budget, US government is about to shut down? Hillary Clinton: World’s richest man wants poor families to lose benefits
A budget drafted by the Republican Party and supported by US President-elect Donald Trump was voted on in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday. The bill failed after dozens of House Republicans defected and voted against it.
Previously, Trump on the 18th to the congressional two parties have roughly reached an agreement on the short-term spending bill expressed opposition, under the pressure of House Speaker Mike Johnson had no way, can only “hard scalp” hurriedly modified a new budget to submit to the vote, the result, the budget that joined Trump’s demands was not passed, The “shutdown crisis” of the US government at the end of the year is particularly fierce this time.
According to reports, if the matter is not quickly resolved within 24 hours, some agencies of the US government will face the fate of shutdown, which will make the life of the American people during the New Year holiday seriously affected.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the 19th rare voice on the matter, she expressed anger at Musk and other few people “politics”, she said on social media: “Now the Republican Party takes orders from the richest man in the world (Musk).”
The vote on the interim budget failed
The presiding officer smashed the gavel to maintain order
For American politics, in recent years, the “government shutdown” budget fight has become a commonplace, it seems that each time the two parties can reach a compromise at the last moment before the real “shutdown deadline” to pass a new bill, so that the various agencies of the federal government can continue to operate.
In late September, Congress passed a short-term spending bill that would extend funding for the federal government from Sept. 30 to Dec. 20. Seeing that the “deadline is coming again,” both parties in Congress are “tacitly” preparing to pass a bill to extend the deadline for funding the federal government until March 14 next year. However, Trump is very unhappy with the bill, which he believes is biased in favor of Democrats.
Trump’s main demand is to add in the bill to raise the debt ceiling content, because Trump plans to implement large-scale tax cuts will inevitably reduce the US government tax revenue, he must increase borrowing to make up for this gap. At the same time, he wants to cut government spending, especially if he does not want a Democratic administration to “crowd out” the borrowing space in the last few months. At the same time, Musk also stood on Trump’s side, and on the 18th, he lashed out at the previous bipartisan budget agreement on social media.
Under the pressure of Trump and Musk, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had no choice but to hastily revise a new budget to submit to a vote. There are reports that this rushed out of the budget and the previous plan is not significantly different, the biggest difference is that at Trump’s request to add a “suspension of the debt ceiling for the next two years” clause.
On the 19th local time, the rushed budget was voted on by the House of Representatives. According to reports, the voting scene was so fierce that the New York Republican Congressman Molinalo, who presided over the meeting, even broke his gavel in order to maintain order at the scene. In the end, the bill received 174 votes in favor and 235 against. Two Democrats voted for the bill and one abstained, while 38 Republicans defected and voted against it.
Johnson said he had not given up and “will try new solutions,” but gave no details. If the matter cannot be satisfactorily resolved within a day, some agencies of the US federal government will be shut down from the 21st. Some analysts say that the moderate Johnson himself lacks leadership and presence within the Republican Party, and the failure of the budget vote makes his position as Speaker very dangerous. Many political commentators believe Johnson will almost certainly be replaced by someone else once Trump officially takes office.
Director of the Transportation Security Administration:
The shutdown will lead to long lines at airports over the New Year’s holiday
The president of the United States is supposed to be the head of the executive branch (government) of the United States, but Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of shutting down the government in his first term as president, and can also “walk the talk.” From December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019, the United States government shut down for 35 days, the longest shutdown in the country’s recent history.
According to statistics, nine federal government departments were suspended during the shutdown, a quarter of government activities were interrupted or affected, and direct economic losses exceeded $3 billion. The cause of the US government shutdown was the breakdown of budget negotiations between the two parties due to Trump’s demand for increased funding for “building a wall” at the border.
According to reports, the shutdown of the US government will have a real impact on the daily life of people in the United States. David Pekoske, the head of the Transportation Security Administration, warned on the 19th local time that if the US government is in a state of shutdown, it may cause passengers to wait longer at airports.
An important job of the Transportation Security Administration is to be responsible for security screening at U.S. airports. Of the division’s 62,000 employees, about 59,000 are in “essential positions,” Mr Pekoske said. According to the law, if government funds are cut off, the work of many front-line employees will be suspended, except for a small number of officials who must work without pay.
In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration is responsible for important tasks such as air traffic control. The department expects that if the U.S. government shuts down after 21, it will have to temporarily lay off 17,000 employees and suspend job training for air traffic controllers. In the government shutdown event from the end of 2018 to the beginning of 2019, the number of absences of officials and front-line employees of the Federal Aviation Administration surged, and in order to ensure safety, airports across the United States had to slow down the pace of passenger aircraft in and out of ports, resulting in a large area of the United States “air traffic jam.”
The year 2024 coincides with a full recovery in domestic travel, and the number of domestic airline passengers during the Thanksgiving holiday in November this year has broken the record for the same period. The Transportation Security Administration estimates that about 40 million people will be screened at airports this holiday season, and the slowdown will put a huge strain on airport ground handling services.
Hillary Clinton’s rare outburst:
Musk, the world’s richest man, runs the Republican Party
Former US Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton posted a post on the 19th local time, attacking Musk: “If you have just turned on your computer to catch up on current events, you should know that at the behest of the richest man in the world (Musk), the Republicans have just decided to shut down the US government for the holidays, they want our troops to go without pay, and poor families to lose food benefits.”
In the House of Representatives, Republicans, under pressure from Trump and Musk, abandoned a previous bipartisan budget deal. Musk warned all members of Congress on social media: Anyone who dares to support the original budget bill will be removed from office within two years (midterm elections). As the world’s richest man and a massive financial backer of Mr Trump, Mr Musk’s threats carry a lot of weight. “A few people control everything, and now everyone lives in fear of them,” complains Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat.
Many Democrats have since expressed an unwillingness to work with Republicans on the budget. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “Musk and Johnson’s proposal is not serious, it’s laughable.” Extreme MAGA Republicans are forcing our government to shut down. It will hurt ordinary Americans, and the Republican Party must take full responsibility for that hurt.”
There is also a lot of internal discontent about the influence of Trump and Musk in the Republican Party. Republican Representative Kevin Hearn said that Musk and other people opposed the original budget on the grounds of “fiscal responsibility” and called for cuts in medical spending, “to this point, how dare they say they are responsible.”
In addition, some analysts believe that although Trump advocates spending cuts and seems to be in line with the traditional “small government” concept of the Republican Party, his large-scale tax cuts are expected to reduce the tax revenue of the US government by about $8 trillion in 10 years, greatly increasing the burden of fiscal deficits. What’s more, the benefits of a massive tax cut are not shared equally among all Americans, and super-rich people like Musk will enjoy the most convenience in the tax cut plan.
