‘No choice’: DOGE leaders meet House conservatives against 1,500+ page ‘pig-fest’

Co-leaders of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are circling the wagons against a stopgap spending bill that has drawn the ire of Congressional conservatives.

“Unless @DOGE puts an end to crooked politicians, pork barrels, waste and corruption will never end,” Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday afternoon as Republican lawmakers looked at the best way forward for CR to fund. the government.

“Therefore, there is no choice but to do that. I wish there was another way, but there isn’t.”

Former Republican president and DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy has also been a vocal critic of the law and suggested in an X post Wednesday that Republicans should create a simple one-page resolution.

USING A BILL TO EXCLUDE A GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT AGENCY SUSPECTED OF CONFIRMING, MAKING A LIST OF FINANCES

“Yes, it *is* possible to approve a 1-page Simple Continuing Solution, instead of a 1,500+ page pork-fest omnibus,” Ramaswamy wrote. “Here.:”

Ramaswamy went on to say, “This is what a clean CR looks like. I still don’t like it because it allows historic overspending to continue, but at the very least, we shouldn’t be piling more waste on top.”

Musk, who posted a video of Ramaswamy slamming the bill and urging Americans to call their representatives to “stop the theft of your tax dollars,” spent part of the afternoon reiterating comments from elected Republicans who have voiced their opposition to the bill.

“Thank you!” Musk posted a response to GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna saying that she will not vote for the “Cramnibus bill” because of “billions to Ukraine, masks and vaccinations, the immunity of the Deep State.”

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to reporters at the US Capitol after the week’s final votes on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“I will still fight for an independent disaster relief bill,” Luna wrote.

In a previous post on X, Musk wrote, “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this wasteful spending bill deserves to be voted out for 2 years!” Musk wrote in X.

Congress leaders released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its initial release on Sunday. Since then, there has been a sharp pushback from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated by unrelated policy riders attached to the law — rather than a “clean” extension of federal funding.

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks at an American PAC town hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

The final package extends existing government programs and services at their current operating levels for a few more months, until March 14, 2025.

The stop action is necessary because Congress has failed to pass its annual bills to fund all the different agencies in the federal government, from the Pentagon and national security services, to health, welfare, transportation and other general domestic services. With the fiscal year ending on September 30, Congress immediately compounded the problem by passing a temporary funding bill that expires on Friday.

Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram reported Wednesday afternoon that “there is talk now of pulling CR and trying to make a ‘clean’ bill. But “it’s not clear if that means no disaster relief.”

Stopping the 1,500-page spending package and forcing a vote on a clean bill would mark a significant victory for the DOGE and its supporters, who have been demanding changes in the way federal spending bills are handled.

“This bill is against the grain of @DOGE,” the press office of GOP Rep. Chip Roy wrote in X. “The @HouseGOP should vote NO. Miss Christmas if they have to.”

Pergram was sent to X on Wednesday after the bill was “support bleeding from Republicans.”

“Regarding moderate Elon Musk, telling lawmakers that they should all be voted out in two years, a member of the House Republican leadership told Fox that Musk is ‘not helping.'” wrote Pergram.

WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 28: US Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) attends a press conference on the debt ceiling and the Freedom Caucus’s spending cuts plan at the US Capitol on March 28, 2023 in Washington, DC . A group of conservative Republicans are proposing deep spending cuts that include many repeals of President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Johnson’s difficulty in reaching an agreement with his slim majority in the House has led to names being favored to replace him in the next Congress, reports Fox News Digital.

Fox News host Lawrence Jones reported Wednesday afternoon that President-elect Trump is “completely opposed” to CR even though he “acknowledged” that Johnson is in critical condition.

During an appearance on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, Johnson shared that while the federal debt and deficit is a problem, Republicans must approve “temporary fiscal measures” while Democrats still control the White House and Senate.

“We put it in our mind and when we start the new Congress in January, when the Republicans are in power and the DOGE (Department of Government Operations) is working on all six cylinders, we will be able to measure. restore the size and the size of the government,” he said.

Johnson also said the move would ensure Republicans can control spending through 2025, which he described as “an impossible position.”

“This is a sausage-making process,” he added.

The Speaker of the House also revealed that he was in a text series with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead the DOGE.

Elon Musk is one of Trump’s supporters pushing House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, to hold a House vote on the Children’s Online Safety Act. (Getty Images)

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“Remember, guys, we still have a small Republican margin. So, any bill has to have Democrat votes. They understand the situation.” Johnson said as he directed the exchange of text.

If Republicans can’t muster the necessary votes or get enough support from Democrats to continue despite their opponents within the party, the country will face a government shutdown Friday night.

“What does President Trump want the Republicans to do: vote for CR or shut down the government? There is no direction, confusion reigns,” said Sen. Mitt RomneyR-Utah, in a misleading post on X.

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump said in a statement, “If the Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, CALL THEIR BLUFF.”

Musk talked about the shutdown in X’s post that “shutting down the government (which doesn’t actually shut down essential jobs btw) is much better than passing a bad bill.”

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom, Liz Elkind, Nikolas Lanum and The Associated Press contributed to this report.