Congress in disarray and shutdown looms as Trump, Musk slam spending deal

A US government shutdown could be two days away after President-elect Donald Trump called on Republican lawmakers to reject a cross-party funding bill.
Trump urged Congress to scrap the deal and pass a streamlined bill. His intervention followed heavy criticism of the bill by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Congressman Steve Scalise, the Republican House Majority Leader, indicated on Wednesday night that the bill was dead after Trump denounced it.
The short-term funding bill will need to be passed by Congress by the end of week to prevent many federal government offices from shuttering beginning on Saturday.
The bill, known as a continuing resolution, is required because Congress never passed a budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which began on 1 October.
Unless Congress acts, government services ranging from the National Parks Service to Border Patrol will begin closing this weekend.
In posts on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump threatened to help unseat “any Republican that would be so stupid as to” vote in favour of the current version of the bill, which was unveiled on Tuesday by House and Senate leaders.
“If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF,” he said.
He also called, in a joint statement with incoming vice-president JD Vance, for Congress to raise the debt ceiling, which determines how much the government can borrow to pay its bills, and limit the bill to focusing just on temporary spending and disaster relief.