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Johnson in ‘Colossal Mess’ with ‘No Plan’ to Avert Shutdown Amid Rising Anger: Reports

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Speaker Mike Johnson and his Republican majority in the House reportedly have “no plan” to avert a shutdown of the federal government—a shutdown that will begin at 12:01 AM Saturday unless they can draft and pass replacement legislation, convince the Senate to pass it, and get President Joe Biden to sign it into law—all in about 36 hours.

“It’s a colossal mess,” NBC News’ Sahil Kapur reported Thursday morning (video below). “This bill looked all set to pass the House and the Senate over the coming days. It had broad bipartisan support after it was inked by Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and leadership in both parties.”

Up until Wednesday morning, there had been little worry about a shutdown this week, until billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, now being decried as an “unelected oligarch” by U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), kicked off a twelve-hour 100+ tweet storm that included “a number of misleading or outright false claims,” as Politico reported. The bill, a continuing resolution, or “CR,” included funding to keep the government open, and critical money for farmers and areas hit hard by hurricanes.

RELATED: Report Shows Musk and Trump Pushed GOP to Kill the Bill to Keep Government Open

“There is no plan right now. There’s no bill,” Kapur added, “that can get the support of the House of Representatives and the Senate and get signed into law by President Biden.”

Not only is Speaker Johnson on the ropes for not having a “plan B,” but according to Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman, Johnson’s own Republican conference and even his leadership team are angry that he did not move to get the bill to the floor for a vote before it blew up in the late afternoon.

“In my conversations with many republicans [sic] this morning,” Sherman wrote, “there’s a lot of anger that Johnson didn’t hold a vote yesterday before Trump spoke. They say they could’ve passed this bill and put it behind them. Would’ve been messy. May have screwed Johnson personally – why the speakers team thinks it wasn’t tenable – but in Johnson’s leadership, there’s some anger about this move.”

Musk on Wednesday had fueled outrage on the right over the CR that would have funded the federal government through the middle of March, by promoting “false and misleading statements,” according to Politico, that alleged the bill included a 40% salary bump for members of Congress, $3 billion to pay for a football stadium in D.C., would fund “bioweapons labs,” and block the House from investigating the Democratic-led House January 6 Committee.

READ MORE: Trump Orders Senate GOP to Not ‘Fast-Track’ Confirmations — Will Some Nominees Change?

Meanwhile, Kapur reported we are in “uncharted waters at this point, having a deal blown up so quickly, so close to the deadline on something of this magnitude.”

But Donald Trump has a history of doing exactly what he and Elon Musk, the co-chair of Trump’s nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency, did Wednesday.

“Maybe people have short memories, but Trump blindsiding the congressional GOP by waiting to weigh in on (and trash) legislative deals until after they’ve been mostly negotiated was literally his m.o. for the entire first term. On tax. On the shutdown CR. On NDAA. On everything,” remarked Matt Glassman of The Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University on Wednesday evening.

Kapur added that the President-elect “seems to be recognizing the legislative traffic jam that’s headed his way, even if they do get this [bill to keep the government open] done, they still have to come back in March and deal with Democrats—Trump and his Republican leadership has to deal with Democrats to get the government funded again. There is still a 60 vote threshold for that.”

House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted Republicans on Wednesday once the bill was dead.

“House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made,” he told reporters. “House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans.”

Watch the videos below or at this link.

READ MORE: Why Aren’t More Democrats Speaking Out Against RFK Jr.’s HHS Nomination?

 

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Ethics Committee Reveals Latest Republican to Come Under Review: Report

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The House Ethics Committee has reportedly announced that U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is facing a review by the Office of Congressional Conduct.

The origin of the review was not been disclosed. Under committee rules, officials are prohibited from stating whether the matter constitutes a formal investigation or identifying its underlying cause. The Committee only stated that there is a “matter regarding Representative Nancy Mace.”

“The Committee notes that the mere fact of a referral or an extension, and the mandatory disclosure of such an extension and the name of the subject of the matter, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” the Ethics Committee statement reads. It was posted to social media by congressional journalist Jamie Dupree.

The statement also says the committee will “announce its course of action in this matter on or before March 2, 2026.”

Congresswoman Mace is currently running for governor of South Carolina.

Earlier this month Mace warned that Republicans may lose control of the House, saying they have not “done enough” and could “do a lot more” to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda, The Hill reported.

 

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Republican Vows to Block Trump’s Greenland Push

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A prominent Republican lawmaker is vowing to thwart any attempt by President Donald Trump to acquire Greenland through force or financial means.

Speaking from Copenhagen as part of a bipartisan delegation of U.S. congressional lawmakers, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), told reporters it is “an important message for the people of the Kingdom of Denmark to understand” that the United States has “three separate but equal branches” of government.

Reminding them that under the U.S. Constitution it is Congress that controls spending, Senator Murkowski, who has broken ranks and stood up to President Trump at times, said, “In Congress, we have tools at our disposal under our constitutional authority that speaks specifically to the power of the purse through appropriations.”

She noted also that “Congress has a role. Certainly, when it comes to spending authorities, the Congress has a role in basically helping to facilitate the message that comes from our constituents, to be reflected in whether it’s legislation or appropriations, or actions or measures, that can indicate, again, the will of the Congress.”

READ MORE: Trump Dangles Another Insurrection Act Threat for Minnesota

The “vast majority” of Americans do not support the acquisition of Greenland, Senator Murkowski added, noting that “some 75 percent will say we do not think that that is a good idea.”

“Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset,” Murkowski also told reporters.

Politico reported that U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) “also took part in the visit by House and Senate lawmakers,” and “said he would push ahead with legislation to curb Trump’s power to act unilaterally.”

He also denied President Trump’s claims that Greenland is necessary to be owned by the U.S. for national security reasons.

“Are there real, pressing threats to the security of Greenland from China and Russia?” Coons said. “No, not today.”

READ MORE: With Shutdown Looming and Crises Growing Trump Heads Off for Long Mar-a-Lago Weekend

 

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Trump Dangles Another Insurrection Act Threat for Minnesota

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Just one day after threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, which would allow him to unleash domestic military forces onto American streets, President Donald Trump once again on Friday hinted he would do so while suggesting he may be “forced” to take action.

Trump targeted Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, claiming they “don’t know what to do” after he deployed roughly 3,000 federal troops to the city.

“In Minnesota,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals.”

“The Governor and Mayor don’t know what to do, they have totally lost control, and our currently being rendered, USELESS! If, and when, I am forced to act, it will be solved, QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY!”

The Guardian labeled Trump’s claims that protesters are paid as baseless.

Attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote: “Note that the Trump admin hasn’t yet been able to produce evidence of a SINGLE ‘paid protestor.’ They’ve had total control of the FBI and the DOJ and ICE HSI and yet despite all of that, they can’t even find ONE person who they can accuse of being paid to protest.”

Separately, The Steady State, a group of over 365 former national security officials, while not referring to Trump’s remarks from Friday morning, noted that the Insurrection Act is “an extraordinary power meant for true emergencies, not a shield for unconstitutional policing. Using it to silence dissent or justify unlawful paramilitary activity at the hand of ICE undermines the rule of law.”

READ MORE: With Shutdown Looming and Crises Growing Trump Heads Off for Long Mar-a-Lago Weekend

 

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