REP. HARRIS: DOGE Is A Mission, Not Just A Message
'But talk is cheap. Now’s the time to make good on our promises.'
Mike Johnson says Elon Musk is 'terribly wrong,' defends Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reiterated his support for President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" on Tuesday after former Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk condemned it.
Musk previously expressed disapproval for Trump's bill in a more reserved way, arguing that there should have been deeper spending cuts. But since Musk's formal exit from the DOGE, the tech mogul has escalated his rhetoric, calling the bill a "disgusting abomination."
"I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore," Musk said. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it."
'With all due respect, Elon is simply wrong about the One Big Beautiful Bill.'
Speaker Johnson responds to Elon Musk: “With all due respect, Elon is terribly wrong about the one Big Beautiful, Bill.” pic.twitter.com/QRyC7kb3Yw
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 3, 2025
"I count Elon Musk as a good friend, and Congressional Republicans appreciate everything he has done to put a spotlight on waste, fraud, and abuse in government," Johnson said. "Now that DOGE has identified wasteful spending, it is being quantified by the Administration, and codified by Congress via the rescissions process and appropriations process."
As of Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget sent the rescissions package to Capitol Hill so Congress can begin codifying the DOGE cuts. OMB Director Russell Vought told Blaze News that he was confident that the bill will pass in Congress, but the House leadership has not yet scheduled a vote.
The cuts in question are in motion, and Johnson seems keen on passing them. Although Musk has previously been an ally to the administration, Johnson and the White House are now on offense.
"With all due respect, Elon is simply wrong about the One Big Beautiful Bill," Johnson said. "Our legislation comprehensively delivers on every major campaign promise and the America First agenda, while ALSO securing historic savings of more than $1.6 TRILLION."
RELATED: Elon Musk takes jab at Trump’s 'big, beautiful, bill': 'I was disappointed'
"It’s going to keep our borders secure, provide historic tax relief for hardworking Americans, unleash American energy dominance, reduce spending, and restore peace through strength," Johnson added. "Congress is working hard to get this to President Trump’s desk by July 4th so we can deliver on the mandate the American people gave us."
The House narrowly passed the bill in a 215-214 vote in May, and it has since made its way to the Senate. Although Republicans have a comfortable 53-seat majority, potential defectors have already emerged, and the White House has its work cut out for it.
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House Democrat takes shots at Schumer following shutdown fiasco: 'Maybe he needs to go'
Democrats on Capitol Hill are unhappy after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) mishandled last week's shutdown showdown, and they aren't hiding it.
Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland is the latest lawmaker to take shots at the party leader. While Schumer has spent the last few days in damage-control mode, Ivey told Politico Wednesday that Democrats "can’t afford to miss the moment again."
In response to the massive blowback, Schumer has spent the last few days on defense.
“If he can get himself together and come — you know, get right on this vote, and we get another shot at it, OK,” Ivey said. “But if he’s going to do the same thing again when this bill comes up six months from now, we can’t afford that.”
After the House passed the Republican-led funding bill on March 11, the Senate was tasked with keeping the government open before the March 14 deadline. In order to vote on the continuing resolution, the bill needed to clear a procedural vote called cloture, which required 60 votes.
In other words, Democrats had the decision to reach across the aisle and join Republicans to pass the funding bill, which was backed by President Donald Trump, or to dig their heels in and shut down the government.
Schumer initially signaled his support for a shutdown but later changed his position in favor of passing the CR to avoid a shutdown. Schumer argued that a shutdown would be worse than the funding bill, but his reversal sparked outrage throughout the Democratic Party. In the end, 10 Democrats joined 52 Republicans to advance the bill.
“We’ve got a limited number of shots at being able to fight back against the Trump administration and what they’re doing,” Ivey said. “We can’t afford to miss the moment again.”
Several prominent Democrats, like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), denounced Schumer's approach, and the rank and file largely felt the same. Ivey echoed his colleagues' concerns about Schumer, saying, "Maybe he needs to go."
“Hakeem met the moment last week,” Ivey said. “Schumer missed it.”
In response to the massive blowback, Schumer has spent the last few days on defense. Schumer postponed his book tour and spent the weekend doing several media hits in an attempt to preserve his reputation. Even still, Democrats aren't buying it.
“Everybody doesn’t have to do the same temperament, everybody doesn’t have to do the same messaging,” Ivey said, “as long as they’re doing what they need to do to win their seats.”
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Trump vows to destroy Thomas Massie. Will he win?
The HR 1968 Continuing Resolution was passed in the House of Representatives in order to prevent a federal government shutdown and will trim $13 billion in non-defense spending from the levels in the 2024 budget year and increase defense spending by $6 billion if written into law.
While most Republicans are on board, Thomas Massie has refused to sign the bill — and Rand Paul has also spoken out against it.
“Despite @DOGE’s findings of loony left-wing USAID programs, the Republican spending bill continues to fund the very foreign aid @elonmusk proposes to cut! The bill continues spending at the inflated pandemic levels and will add $2T to the debt this year. Count me as a hell no!” Paul wrote in a post on social media platform X.
“Marco Rubio came out today and said 83% of USAID programs have been terminated,” Allie Beth Stuckey’s father, Ron Simmons, tells Stuckey on “Relatable.” “So I’m not sure what Rand Paul is saying. It may not be doing everything he wants it to, I get that, but we are making progress and the wheels of progress do not turn on a dime.”
“And this is what your friend Thomas Massie does not understand,” he continues. “Take a win when you can get a win, and go back, and get another win later. That’s what you do.”
“His beef, it seems like, is that he doesn’t believe, just in principle, in these omnibus bills. He wants the bills to be separated so the American people and so Congress actually have time to read what is in them,” Stuckey counters.
“I appreciate that level of transparency, I think his constituents do. I’m not even saying that you’re wrong,” she continues, noting that Trump is now taking his attack on Massie too far.
“Congressman Thomas Massie, of beautiful Kentucky, is an automatic ‘NO’ vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past. HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“He’s just another GRANDSTANDER, who’s too much trouble, and not worth the fight. He reminds me of Liz Cheney before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!) The people of Kentucky won’t stand for it, just watch. DO I HAVE ANY TAKERS???” he continued.
“That’s too far. I agree with you on that one,” Simmons responds.
“I mean, that’s insane,” Stuckey agrees.
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The looming spending fight nobody is talking about
While reconciliation has dominated recent conversations on Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers have yet to address the fast-approaching funding deadline.
Senate and House Republicans have dedicated the last few weeks to getting their respective budget blueprints passed. But as lawmakers lay out lengthy proposals to codify President Donald Trump's legislative priorities, they are also faced with a looming government shutdown.
The current continuing resolution, commonly referred to as a CR, is set to expire soon — on March 14. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and the GOP leadership have not yet put forth a drafted CR.
Despite Johnson's impressive reconciliation victory, he is up against another tall task in the near future.
Although the CR hasn't been the focal point of closed-door discussions, Republicans are beginning to talk spending strategy behind the scenes. One added complication as negotiations start to take place is how Republicans aim to extend the current rate of funding, as a CR does, while also advocating for DOGE-style cuts.
Johnson told Blaze News in an exclusive interview Monday that he has been in close communication with Elon Musk, reaffirming his commitment to codify the DOGE's directives. When asked about how he will balance a CR while also maintaining the DOGE cuts, he noted that there will likely be "anomalies" to amend the spending levels for certain agencies.
"You add anomalies to a CR," Johnson said Wednesday. "You can increase some spending. You can decrease some spending. You can add language that says, for example, the dramatic changes that have been made to USAID would be reflected in the ongoing spending."
"It would be a clean CR, mostly, I think, but with some of those changes to adapt to the new realities here," Johnson added. "The new reality is less government, more efficiency, a better return for the taxpayers, and I think that's something everybody should welcome."
Notably, the House will be out of session for two days leading up to the funding deadline and the week following. This is worth pointing out because spending fights have historically been resolved in the 11th hour.
To complicate matters further, Republicans have an incredibly narrow two-seat majority, which means Johnson can afford to lose only one GOP vote on the CR. It is unlikely that Democrats will lend a hand to Johnson, and he told Blaze News that he has no intention of relying on Democrats to pass legislation in the future.
Despite Johnson's impressive reconciliation victory, he is up against another tall task in the near future.
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Speaker Johnson scores major victory as House narrowly passes his budget
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) managed to flip enough Republican votes to narrowly pass his "big beautiful" reconciliation bill Tuesday night, securing a major victory for the speaker.
Leading up to the late-night vote, Johnson was facing four Republican "no" votes on his reconciliation bill despite having President Donald Trump's endorsement. Given the GOP's historically narrow House majority, Johnson could afford to lose only one vote, which made reeling in Republican defectors a tall task.
Nevertheless, Johnson flipped three of the four Republican holdouts for a final 217-215 vote tally. To nobody's surprise, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the lone Republican holdout.
'The House laid the groundwork to fund America First priorities while bending the spending curve down.'
"House Republicans got it done tonight. This vote was a key step in the process to deliver President Trump’s full America First agenda," Johnson said in a statement following the vote. "I’m grateful to my colleagues, especially Chairman Arrington and Chairman Smith. Tomorrow, we roll up our sleeves and get right back at it."
"Big First Step Win for Speaker Mike Johnson, and AMERICA," Trump said in a Truth Social post Wednesday. "Now let’s start to BALANCE THE BUDGET. IT CAN BE DONE!!! DJT."
Although a handful of Republicans gave Johnson a hard time, several fiscal conservatives were in support of the bill before it ever hit the floor. Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Chip Roy of Texas, who have historically been defectors in previous spending fights, affirmed their support for the Trump-backed bill.
"Last night, the House laid the groundwork to fund America First priorities while bending the spending curve down," Biggs said in a Wednesday post on X. "House Republicans are committed to fulfilling the mandate delivered by the American people."
'I am hopeful and optimistic, and we’ll see if they can pull it off.'
The budget blueprint sets the stage to extend Trump's tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of the year. The bill additionally allocates much-needed border and defense spending while also reducing certain aspects of spending.
The House is now caught up with the Senate, which approved its own budget blueprint the week before. Although both the House and the Senate are addressing Trump's policy priorities like border funding, tax extensions, and spending cuts, the Senate has opted for a two-bill approach as opposed to the House's single-bill approach.
With the Senate bill acting as a backup, Republicans are hopeful they can get Johnson's budget proposal through.
“I am hopeful and optimistic, and we’ll see if they can pull it off,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said.
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3 INFURIATING reasons to REJECT the new spending bill
The 1,547-page spending bill Speaker Mike Johnson released on Tuesday night has sparked widespread scrutiny from Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, for the long list of multibillion-dollar add-ons that practically make it an omnibus bill.
Glenn Beck and Liz Wheeler review three of the most egregious proposals outlined in this catastrophic “Continuing Resolution.”
While there are certainly more than just three issues with this CR, Liz says there’s one that’s so egregious, it should be enough to make Congress vote against it.
“There is a one-year renewal of what's called the ‘Global Engagement Center,”’ which is “a sub-agency of the State Department” that was started to “combat foreign disinformation,” Liz explains. In other words, “It’s a narrative-setting body.”
The department was said to operate exclusively abroad, but then suddenly, “It was aimed at us,” says Liz. “It is the nexus of the censorship industrial complex, which has obviously been used against President Trump” and was behind the “Hunter Biden laptop story being censored on Facebook and on Twitter.”
“You need to say no to this bill. You need to call your House of Representatives and say, ‘No, no, that’s not what we just voted for ... and we will primary every single one that votes yes,”’ says Glenn, adding that he’s in favor of a shutdown.
“This happens every year. We get to Christmas; Congress knows that we're busy taking care of our families and enjoying the holiday and going to church, and they try to cram all this poison through. Speaker Johnson, you promised not to do this. You are betraying not only your constituents but the entire American public,” condemns Liz.
The second poisonous proposal outlined in the CR “allows the government to declare a national emergency in the case of another COVID-19-like virus and force vaccines,” “vaccine passports,” and “masking” on the American people.
“All of the COVID tyranny — this expands it,” says Liz.
Most disturbingly, however, is the part of the bill that “will give [the federal government] additional power to conduct gain of function research” in the event of a national emergency.
“I can't think of anything that's not obscene to say,” says Glenn in disgust.
To hear more about the spending bill that may or may not shut down the government, watch the clip above.
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Elon Musk On Bloated 1,500-Page Omnibus: ‘This Bill Should Not Pass’
Apparently, the feds can’t keep the lights on without your tax dollars funding music tourism or giving Congress a pay raise.Biden admin's last-ditch pitch for more foreign funding
President Joe Biden's administration has reportedly made a last-minute push for Ukraine aid in the upcoming government spending bill Congress will need to pass by December 20.
The Office of Management and Budget sent a request in late November urging Congress to approve another $24 billion of emergency funding toward weapons and equipment for Ukraine in the upcoming funding package. Speaker Mike Johnson, however, has expressed disinterest in approving additional aid.
'It is not the place of Joe Biden to make that decision now.'
"I'm not planning to do that," Johnson said during a press conference Wednesday when asked about Biden's request.
"There are developments by the hour in Ukraine," Johnson continued. "I think, as we predicted and as I said to all of you weeks before the election, if Donald Trump is elected, it will change the dynamic of the Russian war on Ukraine. And we're seeing that happen."
Johnson noted that he would prioritize the suggestions of incoming President-elect Donald Trump over the current Biden administration.
"It is not the place of Joe Biden to make that decision now," Johnson said during the press conference. "We have a newly elected president, and we're going to wait and take the new commander in chief's direction on all of that."
Congress will have to pass another funding bill by December 20 in order to avoid a government shutdown before the holidays. Johnson noted earlier this week that he is expecting the funding to go into March while others within the conference have advocated for a funding bill that would go into January.
The reality is the longer the funding bill is extended, the less wiggle room for the incoming administration to set its legislative agenda.
Republicans are also expecting at least three vacancies in the upcoming Congress due to Trump's nominations, tightening the already slim House majority. As a result, Republicans will likely have to rely on Democrats to approve a spending bill, weakening their bargaining power.
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