Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
President-elect Donald Trump is “totally against” the bloated omnibus bill representatives led by House Speaker Mike Johnson are trying to cram through the lower chamber to keep the federal bureaucracy funded through March 2025.
In a joint statement posted to incoming Vice President J.D. Vance’s X account, Trump and Vance scolded congressional Republicans for trying the “most foolish and inept thing ever” and “allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025.”
Instead of passing a bill that would “give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney,” “make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee,” and “give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas,” Trump and Vance said House Republicans should “pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”
“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. Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH,” the statement continues. “If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief. THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!”
The Trump-Vance administration’s opposition to the legislation, first reported by “Fox & Friends” Co-Host Lawrence Jones III, comes on the heels of an avalanche of criticism from conservatives and some of Trump’s nominees and closest advisers.
Johnson, whom Trump endorsed for speaker just one month ago, framed the omnibus as a no-brainer for Republicans who “CANNOT allow millions of Americans devastated by the historic hurricane season, or our struggling farmers, go without the help they desperately need.” Less than 24 hours after congressional leaders publicized the 1,547-page pork package, however, Americans uncovered the House’s plans to grant frivolous handouts to “music tourism,” funding for a State Department program known for demanding censorship of Americans, NFL earmarks, and provisions that would give legislators a way to skirt Obamacare.
As Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency nominees Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk noted, the bill is “full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics” and “should not pass.”
“So the house is going to vote to protect itself from glaring and obvious wrongdoing? The American people didn’t vote for this. They voted for the opposite. They voted for transparency. This cannot pass,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote.
According to a Wednesday afternoon report from Politico, Trump’s allies’ firm rejection of the bill seemed to be pushing Johnson toward a “spending plan B.” The incoming president’s rebuff could be the final nail in the coffin for the omni if Johnson wants to stay on Trump’s good side.
“I would say that would be shot to the heart,” Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., told The Federalist in a phone interview. “We’re speaking at 3:45 p.m. Central Standard Time. We will be writing a clean CR (continuing resolution) in the next hour, I would think.”
The omnibus mess of Johnson’s making is a broken promise. Grothman said two weeks ago leadership implied to members that “it would be a clean CR, just funding the government for another three or four months. All one page.”
“Miraculously in the last two months they’ve managed to stick another 1,600 pages,” the congressman said.
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.