House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing mutiny among the Republican Party following outrage over his pork-filled spending deal.
Among the revolt, some GOP lawmakers are already putting names forward for Johnson’s replacement as speaker of the House.
In recent years, some rebellious Republicans have called for President Donald Trump to serve as House speaker.
However, now that Trump is no longer available for the role, some are now floating the names of other extremely influential figures for the House leadership position.
In a post on X, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) suggested that Republicans should replace Johnson with either Vivek Ramaswamy or Elon Musk.
House Republicans should hire either @elonmusk or @VivekGRamaswamy as their next speaker
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) December 19, 2024
Both Ramaswamy and Musk have been tapped to lead Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DOGE is being established to eliminate the king of wasteful government spending that Johnson’s continuing resolution (CR) is packed with.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) floated Musk as the next speaker.
Paul pointed out that the speaker of the House doesn’t have to be a member of Congress.
“Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk,” Paul said in a post on X.
“Think about it . . . nothing’s impossible.”
“(not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds),” he added.
The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . .
Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 19, 2024
Musk has been critical of Johnson’s 1,500-page continuing resolution to fund the federal government.
Many have credited Musk for pressuring Republicans to sink the bill.
On Wednesday morning, the X boss posted a photo of the spending bill in Congress with this question: “Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?”
By the afternoon, Trump declared his opposition.
And within hours, Johnson pulled the bill he had unveiled just a day earlier.
The continuing resolution would fund the government until March.
It was supposed to be lawmakers’ final vote before heading home for Christmas.
Instead of a “clean” bill, however, Democrat and Republican negotiators loaded it with a hodge-podge of unrelated policies and additional spending.
The spending conveniently included a huge pay raise for members of Congress.
That caught the attention of Ramaswamy, whose video Musk shared with his followers.
“Congress is about to pass a bill that blows away your taxpayer money, but they made it over 1,500 pages long so you wouldn’t read it,” Ramaswamy said.
“And the worst part is, they didn’t want you to know about any of it.
“That’s why they made this a last-minute jam job.”
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance threw another curveball into the government spending fight.
They said in a statement they want the continuing resolution to address the debt ceiling and to “call [Democrats’] bluff” on a shutdown.
If Congress doesn’t pass a spending bill by December 20, the government will shut down.
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH,” Trump and Vance said in their joint statement.
“If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF.
“It is [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer and [President Joe] Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”
Trump and Vance just threw a MASSIVE curveball into the government spending fight.
Trump wants the continuing resolution (CR) to address the debt ceiling (suspension ends 1/1/2025) and to "call [Democrats] bluff" on a shutdown.
This is where things stand right now. (Thread)
— Bradley Devlin (@bradleydevlin) December 18, 2024
Trump told Fox News that Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough.”
He said Johnson needs to eliminate “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the spending package.
“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,” the president-elect said.
