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There was no legislative reason for Trump to oppose the stop-gap funding bill hammered out in sort of a bipartisan manner by both chambers of Congress. It had too much disaster relief with no way to pay for it, a generous farm bill for red state lawmakers, and incredibly, a pay increase for lawmakers.
DonaldTrumpandElonMuskswatteditawaywithease.
ThefundingbillwasworsethanmanyoftheContinuingResolutions”passedbyCongressinrecentyears.It’sefficacywasnottheissue,however.Neitherweremostofitsprovisions.
TheissuewasTrumpusinghisenormousinfluencetosignalthatthingsontheHillwerenotgoingtobethewaytheyhavebeen.Andbothpartiesbettergetusedtoit.
HouseSpeakerMikeJohnson(R-La.)isnowinconstantdiscussionswithseveralmembersofTrump’steam,includingvice-president-electJ.D.Vance,tohammeroutanewfundingpackage.Toavoidapartialshutdownofthegovernment,theyhavelessthantwodaystostrikeadealacceptabletobothparties.
Theparametersofthenewfundingbillincludelessdisasterrelief,aone-yearextensionofthefarmbill,andanincreaseinthedebtlimitfortwoyears.Tru
