Hillary Clinton says Republicans are following orders from “richest man in the world” to shut down government

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed in on Elon Musk’s influence on the spending drama on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

“If you’re just catching up, the Republican Party is doing the bidding of the richest man in the world and is on track to shut down the government over the holidays and cut off paychecks to our troops and food benefits to low-income families just in time for Christmas.” , the 2016 presidential candidate wrote on X.

Clinton, a former first lady and senator, served in Congress from 2001 to 2009.

Her comments came just as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., released a new version of a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open past the Friday evening deadline.

‘HELL NO’: MAIN DEMS erupt over Republican spending deal

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed in on Elon Musk’s influence on the spending drama on Capitol Hill on Thursday. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Musk expressed strong opposition to the original spending deal Johnson negotiated with Democrats and threatened to support a primary challenge to any Republican who voted for it.

Without a passable deal that extends the government funding deadline to March and continues spending at 2024 levels, the government will enter a partial shutdown at midnight on Saturday.

But House Democrats are balking at the latest edition of a spending plan. And with $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2024, some conservatives are opposed to a CR that pushes the funding deadline to March and leaves spending entirely at 2024 levels.

“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious, it is ridiculous. Extreme MAGA Republicans are pushing us toward a government shutdown,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., holds his weekly press conference at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC on May 23 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., suggested that Democratic leadership would push its members to vote “no” on the deal.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., complained that the last deal collapsed due to opposition from conservatives including Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

THIS HAPPENS DURING A PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHIFTER

“Everyone agreed,” he said, “and then it was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently became the fourth branch of government. And that’s just an intolerable way of doing things.”

“Democrats are going to try to figure out how we can save the common good, as well as the debris that was just pushed away.”

In the room where the Democrats met, shouts of “Hell no” could be heard after the text of the bill was released.

Elon Musk threatened everyone who voted for the continuing resolution to support primary challenges. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The latest continuing resolution would extend current federal funding for three months and also suspend the debt limit for two years, something President-elect Trump has called for.

This came after the original 1,500-page CR faced opposition from the right due to political and funding criticism.

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Members of the House of Representatives could vote on the new bill as early as Thursday evening.

It is not immediately clear whether the new deal will be accepted. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who led the opposition to the original bill, also criticized the new deal.

“More debt. More government. Credit card increase by $4 trillion, with no spending limits and cuts. HARD NO,” Roy wrote on X.