
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">House Democrats are busting a gut over the spending bill drama and what they characterized as the outsize influence of Elon Musk and others in President-elect Trump&#8217;s orbit after a bipartisan plan brokered by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., blew up.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Speaking to reporters outside a leadership meeting on Thursday, House Democrats expressed disappointment in Republicans for walking away from the negotiated argument, and many accused them of appearing to take cues from Musk. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., labeled the billionaire X owner &#8220;President Musk&#8221; while speaking to reporters Thursday.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;For the Republicans, for President Musk to come in at the last moment and blow up the deal is just intolerable,&#8221; Nadler said. &#8220;You have to negotiate, and you have to be able to enforce what you&#8217;re negotiating, and what was negotiated was a very good deal for the American people.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said their caucus is &#8220;disappointed&#8221; in House Speaker Johnson, saying it appeared as though Musk is &#8220;president&#8221; and Trump &#8220;vice president.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This was echoed by Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas. &#8220;My main question is just if Elon Musk is kind of cosplaying co-president here, I don&#8217;t know why Trump doesn&#8217;t just hand him the Oval Office.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;Speaker Johnson should maybe just hand Elon Musk the gavel if they just want that billionaire to run the country,&#8221; Casar told reporters outside a House Democrat leadership meeting.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., was emotional as she expressed her frustration with the protracted negotiation and a changed debt ceiling agreement, saying that, in her view, Republicans &#8220;need to do the right thing for once.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She noted that she has &#8220;thousands of neighbors&#8221; and others in her district ;who are waiting for disaster aid or for ;a Small Business Administration ;loan. &#8220;Those are the loans that help people repair their homes. Those are the loans that help small businesses get back on their feet,&#8221; Clark said.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Neither Musk nor his team have yet to respond to Democrats&#8217; accusations of his heavy-handed role in the spending bill negotiations.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Meanwhile, President-Elect Trump has endorsed getting rid of the debt ceiling as part of the spending package in an interview with NBC News.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Trump reportedly said abolishing the debt ceiling would be the ;&#8220;smartest thing [Congress] could do. I would support that entirely.&#8221;</p>

Dems Wonder Who’s in Charge After Musk Torpedoes Spending Deal
