Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) pulled no punches on Thursday in criticizing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for backing away from the bipartisan deal he helped negotiate to keep the government funded under pressure from Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump.
McGovern took questions from congressional reporters while walking in the Capitol and lamented that the GOP is going to “shut the government down because of the words of an eccentric, weird billionaire who will basically instruct them to do that. I think that’s a terrible thing.”
Axios’ Andrew Solender asked him what he thought of Musk’s role in the process.
“Well, he’s president and probably now vice president. I think that’s clear,” McGovern shot back.
Solender followed up, asking, “Trump is for abolishing the debt ceiling. I know this is something a lot of Democrats talk about when it’s come up, because this whole process is frustrating a lot of you guys. Is that something you think a lot of Democrats would go for?”
“He can have the Republicans vote. You know where I come from, the deal is the deal and your word is your word,” McGovern replied, adding:
And currently, the Republicans have a very different opinion. And I said this yesterday, and I wish Speaker Johnson would grow a fucking spine because this is pathetic and again we know we haven’t seen– we even know what’s happening. I mean, have
you seen any text of anything or I mean, I don’t even know what they’re going to do.
CBS News’s Seth MacFarlane then asked, “What do you think the impact is Christmas week if there’s a shutdown?”
“A lot, I think a lot of people are going to be impacted. I mean I mean, the TSA agents won’t get paid. I mean, you know, we know during government shutdowns, people get nervous. They don’t want to, you know, go out to eat or buy anything,” McGovern said, adding:
They don’t want to– I mean, and because, you know, you think about all the workers that won’t get paid. I mean, Elon Musk and Donald Trump will have to worry about that. They’ll be dining on caviar at Mar-a-Lago. I mean, they are multi-millionaires, billionaires. They don’t they don’t know what it’s like to go into a supermarket and struggle to buy groceries or pay heating bills or struggle to pay rent. I mean, they live in an alternative universe.So I know this doesn’t affect them, but it affects people I represent. You know, I’m pissed that we’re in this situation right now.Again, the Republican speaker of the House negotiated this deal and signed off on it. They posted text, the Republican leadership posted text. They
were lobbying for it yesterday. We got to bring it to the floor. It only goes until March. And then the Republicans, you know, will be in charge and they can see whatever, they can do, whatever they want to do.
Watch the clip above via CBS News.