“The collapse of Congress’ spending negotiations is throwing the presidential transition and preparations for President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration into chaos as Washington stares down the prospect of a government shutdown just after midnight Friday,” Politico reports.

“Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican leaders were struggling Thursday to devise a fallback plan to keep the government open, after billionaire Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump rallied conservatives to sink their bipartisan funding deal,” NBC News reports.

“With less than 36 hours to go before a deadline that would shut down vast swaths of the federal government and furlough workers, they have no plan, or even a concept of a plan, for what’s next.”

Playbook: “If Johnson puts up a clean CR with a straightforward debt limit increase attached, would Democrats really vote against it after spending 14 years tsk-tsking Republicans for playing politics with a possible federal default?”

“Of course, there’s another party involved here, and most Republicans are typically lukewarm at best at the notion of hiking the debt limit, let alone eliminating it. A handful of hard-liners, in fact, are advocating for not doing anything at all and just allowing the federal government to shut down for a month until Trump is inaugurated.”

“If you’re just catching up: the Republican Party, taking orders from the world’s richest man, is on course to shut down the government over the holidays, stopping paychecks for our troops and nutrition benefits for low-income families just in time for Christmas.”

— Hillary Clinton, on X.

Donald Trump told ABC News there won’t be a spending bill “unless the debt ceiling is done with.”

Said Trump: “If we don’t get it, then we’re going to have a shutdown, but it’ll be a Biden shutdown, because shutdowns only inure to the person who’s president.”

Paul Krugman: “We’ll have to see how much damage this does, but it’s already clear that assuming the worst happens — and it’s hard to see how it won’t — this will be the dumbest shutdown ever. I’d say that the incoming Musk administration (so far Musk, not Trump, appears to be calling the shots) is trying to hold itself up for ransom, but it doesn’t even rise to that level. This isn’t like 1995, when Newt Gingrich shut down the government in an attempt to extract cuts in Medicare and Medicaid — a move that seemed (and was) a foolish act of petulance, but at least had a ghost of motivation.”

“No, Musk is demanding — apparently successfully — that Republicans in Congress renege on a deal they had already agreed to, a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government going for the next few months. Why? Because, Musk says, of the outrageous provisions in that CR.”

“Except none of the items Musk is complaining about are actually in the bill.”

“A bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown collapsed Wednesday amid a sustained campaign against the package led by billionaire Elon Musk — one featuring a series of false and misleading statements,” Politico reports.

“Musk used his social network X to stir Republicans into a frenzy over the stopgap spending bill filed the night before by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was forced by his thin majority to negotiate with Democrats on a resolution that could pass in time to avert a government shutdown that would start 12:01 a.m. Saturday.”

CNN: “The sabotaging of Johnson’s funding initiative triggered shock and confusion on Capitol Hill. But for many of Trump’s supporters and boosters in the conservative media who are anticipating massive cuts to federal programs, the mayhem is the point. Even if the impasse leads to a damaging government shutdown, that may represent progress for some since the government itself is viewed with disdain on the populist right. And by taking aim at the Washington status quo even before he takes the oath of office, Trump is doing exactly what he said he’d do on the campaign trail.”

“But the sudden imbroglio also highlighted one of the key issues facing Trump in his second term: If he wants to pass his tax cuts, push through his immigration overhauls, defend the country and leave a meaningful legacy, he will have to find some way to govern – even if that draws him into conflict with base voters and MAGA ideologues who seem happy to burn government to the ground.”

Playbook: “But here’s the thing — Johnson probably wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for Musk, who spent all day Wednesday stoking rage on the right over Johnson’s deal.”

“There was little evidence Trump cared much about the CR before that. We’re told that Trump’s team was aware of the contours of the deal and did not object. It was not a matter of debate during Saturday’s Army-Navy game discussion, which focused mostly on reconciliation. And we’re also told Republicans passed off the details of the deal to those close with Trump.”

“So the most prominent theory of what happened yesterday is this, per multiple Hill Republicans: Musk, as the anointed co-chair of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency panel, got waaay out over his spending-slashing skis and backed Trump into a corner.”

“Senior Hill Republicans are super peeved that Musk — whom they see as an ally in cutting government waste starting next year — began making demands that are impossible to placate with a Democratic president and Democratic Senate still in control.”

Washington Post: A government shutdown looked unlikely. Then Elon Musk took to X.

“Senate Republicans are rallying behind the idea of a clean continuing resolution. It just can’t actually be clean — and it probably can’t address the debt limit,” NOTUS reports.

“As House Republicans rose up against Speaker Mike Johnson’s government funding plan, and Democrats suggested they weren’t open to a renegotiation, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance complicated the matter further Wednesday by demanding that any agreement — even the clean CR that conservatives have been pushing for — would be ‘destructive’ without terminating or extending ‘the Debt Ceiling guillotine.’”

“Senate Republicans said they understood Trump’s frustration with the looming debt ceiling, but they suggested there was little power to renegotiate the deal in the next 48 hours, particularly without giving Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer additional concessions.”

Punchbowl News: “It’s an inauspicious start to Trump’s relationship with Johnson who, theoretically, is his governing partner. Trump privately trashed Johnson to senators, saying the speaker ‘mishandled’ the situation, according to GOP sources…”

“As of right now, there’s no clear path forward on how Congress plans to avoid a shutdown in just two days…”

“A face plant of this nature could imperil Johnson’s political future. The anger – and the anger in the ranks is very real right now – could blow over. We get it. But the speaker election is Jan. 3. That’s just 16 days away.”

“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) suggested Wednesday that Democrats will oppose any federal spending bill that strays from the bipartisan deal announced a day before, accusing GOP leaders of reneging on the agreement at risk of a government shutdown,” The Hill reports.

Said Jeffries: “You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow.”

President-elect Donald Trump said he is opposed to Speaker Mike Johnson’s short term funding bill and called on Congress to raise the debt ceiling as part of any spending agreement.

The statement essentially kills Johnson’s plan to fund the government through March 14.