Heather Cox Richardson

Well, I'm going to correct one thing there to make it really clear. Elon didn't scuttle this bill. The Republicans in Congress who did what he said scuttled the bill.

And the same thing happened with the immigration bill in the last Congress when everyone said, oh, Trump broke, you know, Trump scuttled this. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. It was the, you know, the Republicans who chose to follow Trump, who at the time was not in power. And that's actually a really important part of this dynamic.

And the same thing happened with the immigration bill in the last Congress when everyone said, oh, Trump broke, you know, Trump scuttled this. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. It was the, you know, the Republicans who chose to follow Trump, who at the time was not in power. And that's actually a really important part of this dynamic.

And the same thing happened with the immigration bill in the last Congress when everyone said, oh, Trump broke, you know, Trump scuttled this. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. It was the, you know, the Republicans who chose to follow Trump, who at the time was not in power. And that's actually a really important part of this dynamic.

What's happening on Capitol Hill right now is that Elon Musk, who is not eligible to be the president of the United States...

What's happening on Capitol Hill right now is that Elon Musk, who is not eligible to be the president of the United States...

What's happening on Capitol Hill right now is that Elon Musk, who is not eligible to be the president of the United States...

and who has never held an elected office, but who put more than $150 million into the Trump presidential campaign, and in addition to his work with X, that supported Trump, and really, I think we can say was behind Trump being elected to the office, is now apparently calling all the shots. And That has been disturbing for a number of us that I think maybe we should talk a little bit about.

and who has never held an elected office, but who put more than $150 million into the Trump presidential campaign, and in addition to his work with X, that supported Trump, and really, I think we can say was behind Trump being elected to the office, is now apparently calling all the shots. And That has been disturbing for a number of us that I think maybe we should talk a little bit about.

and who has never held an elected office, but who put more than $150 million into the Trump presidential campaign, and in addition to his work with X, that supported Trump, and really, I think we can say was behind Trump being elected to the office, is now apparently calling all the shots. And That has been disturbing for a number of us that I think maybe we should talk a little bit about.

But what happened yesterday was that the House of Representatives, which has been run by Republicans since 2023, January 2023, has not managed to pass an appropriations bill for 2024, which is almost over. It was supposed to be done in September of 2023, and it didn't happen. And now we're at the end.

But what happened yesterday was that the House of Representatives, which has been run by Republicans since 2023, January 2023, has not managed to pass an appropriations bill for 2024, which is almost over. It was supposed to be done in September of 2023, and it didn't happen. And now we're at the end.

But what happened yesterday was that the House of Representatives, which has been run by Republicans since 2023, January 2023, has not managed to pass an appropriations bill for 2024, which is almost over. It was supposed to be done in September of 2023, and it didn't happen. And now we're at the end.

And what they have done repeatedly is issued these continuing resolutions which say, we're going to continue to fund the government at this level for another few months until we can finally get our acts together. And the deadline, the last deadline from September, that continuing resolution that happened in September, was Friday. Right. The 20th of December.

And what they have done repeatedly is issued these continuing resolutions which say, we're going to continue to fund the government at this level for another few months until we can finally get our acts together. And the deadline, the last deadline from September, that continuing resolution that happened in September, was Friday. Right. The 20th of December.

And what they have done repeatedly is issued these continuing resolutions which say, we're going to continue to fund the government at this level for another few months until we can finally get our acts together. And the deadline, the last deadline from September, that continuing resolution that happened in September, was Friday. Right. The 20th of December.

And very quietly, the House and the Senate leadership worked out a 1500 page bill that was essentially a continuing resolution that maintained levels of spending from the previous two years now, but added, as you say, the disaster relief and relief for farmers because they also never passed a farm bill.

And very quietly, the House and the Senate leadership worked out a 1500 page bill that was essentially a continuing resolution that maintained levels of spending from the previous two years now, but added, as you say, the disaster relief and relief for farmers because they also never passed a farm bill.

And very quietly, the House and the Senate leadership worked out a 1500 page bill that was essentially a continuing resolution that maintained levels of spending from the previous two years now, but added, as you say, the disaster relief and relief for farmers because they also never passed a farm bill.

And the Farm Bill is huge because it's everything to do with our agricultural policy and also our supplemental nutrition programs, as is what used to be called food stamps. So this is not like, you know, feeding the chickens. This is like feeding the country. And that hadn't been done as well. So they folded a little bit, a teeny bit of the Farm Bill into this continuing resolution and