President-elect Donald Trump spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital Thursday morning about the Republicans’ battle over the 1,500+ page spending bill and House Speaker Mike Johnson’s job security; he will “easily remain speaker,” Trump says — but he needs to get tough.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
“If the speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker,” Trump added.
According to Fox News, Vice President-elect JD Vance met with Speaker Johnson late Wednesday night to discuss the bill. Vance said the two had a “productive conversation,” and said he believes they will “be able to solve some problems here” and will continue “working on it.”
Trump and Vance released a statement blasting the bill on Wednesday night:
The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed.
Meanwhile, Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney. The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee—which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas.
Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.
Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country…
More Details from Fox News:
The now-dead-on-arrival 1,547-page bill was set to be a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024 government funding levels, aimed at giving lawmakers more time to agree on funding the rest of FY 2025 by the Friday deadline.
In addition to funding the government through March 14, the bill included more than $100 billion in disaster aid to help Americans affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene. It also included $10 billion in economic relief for farmers, as well as health care reform measures and a provision aimed at revitalizing Washington, D.C.’s RFK stadium and its surrounding campus.
The bill also proposed a pay raise for members of Congress.
The Speaker vote is set for Jan. 3, 2025. Johnson’s actions during the current budget battle will play a significant role in how difficult his return as Speaker will be.
This story is developing…
BREAKING: Trump says Mike Johnson will 'easily remain speaker' if he acts 'decisively and tough' on spending billhttps://t.co/D1vnSOHzgs
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 19, 2024
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