Trump signals change to status quo spending while torching Johnson’s year-end bill

President-elect Donald Trump signaled a change to the status quo on spending as he has torched House Speaker Mike Johnson’s continuing resolution/omnibus bill.

Johnson has pushed a 1,547-page spending bill in an effort to prevent a government shutdown on Friday. Trump, his incoming administration nominees, and House Republicans have all criticized the bill for including massive pay raises for Congress members, shielding Jan. 6 House committee members from congressional subpoenas, and extending a censorship agency within the State Department.

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a joint statement on Wednesday, slamming the spending bill and calling for a clean bill to fund the government.

"Sweetheart provisions"

“Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney,” they wrote. “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,” Trump and Vance continued. “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.

“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.”

Trump later posted on Truth Social on Wednesday regarding the bill, saying that “the Communist Global Engagement Center, a project of Crooked Hillary Clinton, should not in any way, shape, or form be extended and, the shielding of the very corrupt J6 Unselect Committee of Political Losers and Thugs would be suicidal for any Republican approving it. Likewise, this is not a good time for Congress to be asking for pay increases. Hopefully, you’ll be entitled to such an increase in the near future when we, ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’”

"They are the swamp"

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who Trump picked to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Vivek Ramaswamy, called for the ousting of any Congress member who votes for the spending bill. “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk posted on X on Wednesday.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., also reacted to the spending bill, calling out his congressional colleagues.

“Pay attention to the members of Congress who have been all in for [DOGE] for media attention but will vote for the short-term omnibus. They are the Swamp,” Biggs posted on X on Wednesday.

Assuming that the current spending bill will be abandoned, Biggs told “Just the News and AMAC Special Report: Trump’s First 100 Days” on Wednesday that the status quo of passing an omnibus spending bill might be changing.

The replacement is “probably going to be a clean CR, so it won't be total disruption, but the fact that with President Trump and the DOGE brothers and our Freedom Caucus – and actually, it wasn't just Freedom Caucus, there were Freedom Caucus-adjacent,” Biggs said. “There were other members throughout this conference that said, ‘This is absurd, this is a no-go.’ So the fact that there was so much antipathy toward the bill indicates that maybe, just maybe, we're turning a corner.”

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told “Just the News, No Noise" and "AMAC Special Report: Trump’s First 100 Days” on Wednesday that it’s important “​​that Congress wakes up and acknowledges what just happened this last November, and that the American people gave us a mandate to turn this sinking ship around and quit playing games up here. Like we're playing games right now with a horrible, pretty disastrous CR/omnibus bill you know that kicks spending into next year so President Trump, can, you know, work on it with his team, but it's got a bunch of nonsense, a bunch of pork in it. You know, it gives members of Congress a raise.”

While Crane said he'd “like a raise,” he doesn't “think we've earned one, man. And I think it's important to remember that our bosses are the American people.”

Below are a few of the provisions included in the spending bill.

Congressional pay raise

• A salary bump for members of Congress, who are currently paid $174,000 per year, is included in the spending bill.

• Congress has voted since 2009 to block lawmakers from receiving automatic cost-of-living adjustments.

• The House speaker earns $223,500 annually and the Senate majority leader makes $193,400 while other lawmakers earn $174,000 currently.

A provision in the negotiated spending bill would allow the automatic pay raises to return, which could yield a $6,600 raise next year for lawmakers, according to a Congressional Research Service report from September that analyzes salaries.

Obamacare exemption

The bill allows Congress members to use the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program instead of Obamacare. Lawmakers and some staff are required, under the Affordable Care Act, to use an Obamacare exchange instead of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton posted on X on Wednesday, “So I see the CR allows members of Congress to get off the Obamacare exchanges!  Rules for thee…”

Lab funding

The bill also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to fund at least “12 regional biocontainment laboratories” for “(1) conducting biomedical research to support public health and medical preparedness for, and rapid response to, biological agents, including emerging infectious diseases; (2) ensuring the availability of surge capacity for purposes of responding to such biological agents; (3) supporting information sharing between, and the dissemination of findings to, researchers and other relevant individuals to facilitate collaboration between industry and academia; and (4) providing, as appropriate and applicable, technical assistance and training to researchers and other relevant individuals to support the biomedical research workforce in improving the management and mitigation of safety and security risks in the conduct of research involving such biological agents.”

J6 committee implications

The CR also includes a mechanism for a House representative to fight a House subpoena in court.

“Upon a motion made promptly by a House office or provider for a House office, a court of competent jurisdiction shall quash or modify any legal process directed to the provider for a House office if compliance with the legal process would require the disclosure of House data of the House office,” the bill reads.

Independent journalist Kyle Becker posted on X on Wednesday, “If someone (like a House office or a service provider working for a House office) believes a legal request for information (such as a subpoena) would force them to disclose sensitive House data, they can quickly file a motion with a court to stop or change the request.

“The court must agree to block or change the request if it would result in the disclosure of the House’s sensitive data. In essence, this ensures House offices' data remains protected, and provides a way to challenge legal requests for that data. This could be used to shield J6 committee members accused of deleting records and may be criminally prosecuted under the Trump administration.”

Donald Trump, Jr., reacted to the provision on X on Wednesday. “So the house is going to vote to protect itself from glaring and obvious wrongdoing?” he wrote. “The American people didn’t vote for this. They voted for the opposite. They voted for transparency. This cannot pass.”

Censorship agency

The legislation extends the Department of State’s Global Engagement Center for another year. In September, House Republicans released a report that found the center skirting its duty to crack down on foreign disinformation by funding groups engaged in “censorship” against small businesses in the United States.

Ramaswamy slammed the funding bill on Wednesday as he noted the cost of various provisions.

“Keeping the government open until March 14 will cost ~$380BN by itself, but the true cost of this omnibus CR is far greater due to new spending,” Ramaswamy posted on X. “Renewing the Farm Bill for an extra year: ~$130BN. Disaster relief: $100BN. Stimulus for farmers: $10BN. The Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement: $8BN. The proposal adds at least 65 cents of new spending for every dollar of continued discretionary spending.”

“The bill could have easily been under 20 pages,” he later added. “Instead, there are dozens of unrelated policy items crammed into the 1,547 pages of this bill. There's no legitimate reason for them to be voted on as a package deal by a lame-duck Congress. 72 pages worth of ‘Pandemic Preparedness and Response’ policy; renewal of the much-criticized ‘Global Engagement Center,’ a key player in the federal censorship state; 17 different pieces of Commerce legislation; paving the way for a new football stadium in D.C.; a pay raise for Congressmen & Senators and making them eligible for Federal Employee Health Benefits. It's indefensible to ram these measures through at the last second without debate.”