• House lawmakers voted to avoid a federal government shutdown on Friday.
• The Senate passed the stopgap funding bill minutes after the midnight deadline passed.
• The vote caps a week full of drama on Capitol Hill.

President Joe Biden signed a stopgap funding bill on Saturday that prevents a government shutdown. Senate lawmakers passed the bill minutes after the Saturday midnight deadline passed.

Earlier on Friday, House lawmakers voted 366 to 34 for the bill, with one Democratic lawmaker voting present. House Democrats provided significant cover for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who lost 34 Republicans on the measure.

The White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement on Friday that it had ceased shutdown preparations.

Trump downplayed the stakes of a shutdown, but it likely would have affected the transition of power and some planning for his inauguration.

Now that the bill has been signed into law, government funding will run through March 14, giving President-elect Donald Trump a little breathing room once he retakes office next month.

Republicans denied Trump's request to suspend or even eliminate the debt ceiling, which would have resolved a thorny political issue in advance of a likely GOP effort to extend Trump's 2017 tax law. According to Punchbowl News, Johnson said Republicans have agreed to address the nation's borrowing limit next year when the GOP will retake entire control over Washington.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his fellow Democrats ultimately backed a deal stripped of many of the incentives initially included to garner more support among his party.

Elon Musk and other conservative activists opposed the initial bipartisan bill earlier this week, effectively killing it. Trump then urged Republicans to pass a pared-down funding bill and an extension of the debt ceiling. On Thursday night, 38 House Republicans and nearly every House Democrat voted against that plan, raising the stakes as a shutdown approached.

"The last 72 hours highlighted the positive impact that DOGE can have, but it also laid bare the massive lift ahead next year," Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-lead Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency" with Musk wrote on X, "We're Ready for It."

Musk also announced his support of the legislation before its passage. Johnson told reporters he had a brief conversation with him.

"The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances," Musk wrote on X. "It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court."

The episode illustrated that significant divisions remain among Republican lawmakers that even Trump can struggle to paper over. Trump has ambitious plans for his second term, including the potential of using a special procedural power known as reconciliation to ram through tax extensions and border security measures. He'll only be successful if the GOP can remain almost entirely united.

• Elon Musk has demonstrated his ability to upend Washington.
• Trump allies' and Musk's posts have once again shown the power of X.
• Recently, they nuked a government funding bill and possibly saved a cabinet nomination.

Washington better turn on its Twitter, er, X alerts again.

Elon Musk and a loose band of MAGA influencers have shown that even if Twitter wasn't real life, X just might be.

In recent days, Musk's platform has been at the center of efforts to save Pete Hegseth's embattled nomination to lead the Pentagon and to torpedo the type of 1,000-page, year-end spending bills that have joined the National Christmas Tree as a marker of the holiday season.

Democrats are saying that the world's richest man is akin to a shadow president. Some Republicans, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, are floating Musk to become the next speaker of the House.

Musk was already set to wield significant power through Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency," an advisory panel the Tesla CEO will co-lead with former GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump had said relatively little about how Republicans should finish their final business before he returns to the White House. Musk upended that silence on Wednesday when he began a full-on assault on X against Speaker Mike Johnson's continuing resolution, which would have extended government funding until March 14.

"The voice of the people was heard," Musk wrote on X, quoting a Republican lawmaker's comments that cited his influence in helping kill the funding bill. "This was a good day for America."

Republicans have long complained about how party leaders fund the government with sweeping proposals, via either continuing resolution or omnibus. The conservative opposition then forces Republicans to cater more to Democrats, as leaders have to find the votes somewhere. Case in point, the year-end 2024 continuing resolution included everything from a congressional pay raise to opening the door to Washington's NFL team returning to the city proper to entice Democrats to support it. There was also $100 billion in disaster relief and a one-year extension to the law that prevents the US from reverting to decades-old farm policies. The total bill was 1,547 pages long.

Musk is also using X to urge Republicans to shut down the federal government if they don't get what they want, potentially affecting everything from pay for US service members to the status of US National Parks.

This isn't the first time Trump and his allies have wielded X. His supporters have been highly alert over the president-elect's Cabinet picks since former Rep. Matt Gaetz pulled out of contention to be the next Attorney General. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, looked to be in jeopardy amid a series of reports about his drinking habits and his treatment of women, including allegations of sexual assault.

Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran, expressed concern about Hegseth. In response, a wave of conservative influencers called her out by name on X, and some threatened her with a primary challenge.

"People in Iowa have a well-funded primary challenger ready against her," Charlie Kirk wrote on X. "Her political career is in serious jeopardy."

Ernst, amid the pressure campaign and after additional meetings with Hegseth, later signaled a change in tone on Hegseth's nomination. Without naming her directly, one of Ernst's incoming colleagues said one senator felt "like the entire world coming after her" for not supporting one of Trump's nominees.

"She's being plummeted with threats, with all sorts of things that don't belong in political arena, and her staff is. And so you talk about pressure, right?" Sen.-elect John Curtis of Utah said at a recent event, per Politico. "And speaking with her, she has to worry about things like, 'Well, if I vote against this nominee, what happens to my state when I need something from this administration?'"

Musk alone didn't make X powerful. He is remaking the platform, though, as evidenced by the exodus to Blue Sky and other competitors. He aims to create a free-speech oasis where it is "the best source for truth."

The X CEO has changed policies on the platform based on polls, including when he reinstated Trump's prized account after a simple survey. Musk's posts, including the ones he used to take down the government funding bill, aren't always truthful, such as when he falsely claimed Congress would receive a 40% pay raise (it was 3.5% at most).

It seems like Musk often just wants to dominate the conversation. And while his lofty goals are still in progress, Congress and the rest of the nation's capitol can't afford to ignore him.

They should also turn on Truth Social notifications for good measure.

• Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rand Paul floated naming Elon Musk as speaker of the House.
• Musk could become speaker, given there are few requirements for the job.
• Republicans backed Mike Johnson to retain the gavel in November, but that vote isn't binding.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia joined a growing effort on Thursday by saying she would consider supporting Elon Musk being the next speaker of the House.

"I'd be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House," Greene wrote on X. "DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency."

Greene, who has repeatedly tussled with Speaker Mike Johnson, said electing the Tesla CEO as speaker "could be the way" to send a major message to those who want to continue business as usual.

"The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday," said wrote.

House Republicans voted unanimously last month for Johnson to be their candidate for speaker. But that closed-door result is not binding, as evident by then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy's struggles in early 2023. The entire House will vote in January on the next speaker.

Johnson is facing major unrest among his colleagues after Musk, President-elect Donald Trump, and others effectively blew up a bipartisan deal to avoid a government shutdown that included a number of unrelated provisions to entice Democrats to support it.

Greene tried to oust Johnson in May. But according to Politico reporter Olivia Beavers, she was planning to support Johnson in January.

"Not too long ago, Rep. MTG was telling me she was planning to back Speaker Johnson," Beavers wrote on X.

The US Constitution outlines few requirements for to become speaker of the House. Musk or anyone else would not need to be an elected member of Congress to serve as speaker.

Greene quoted a separate post from Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, which kicked off the effort to make Musk for one of the most powerful jobs in Washington.

"Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing's impossible (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka 'uniparty,' lose their ever-lovin' minds)," Paul, a Republican, wrote on X.

Paul's comment is reminiscent of previous efforts to push now-President-elect Donald Trump as speaker. Then-Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, voted for Trump during the initial days-long stand off that ended up with Johnson as speaker.

As the world's wealthiest person, Musk would have unprecedented power in the unlikely event he were to become speaker — posing a multitude of conflicts of interest. The speaker of the House is also part of the so-called "Gang of 8," a group of top congressional leaders regularly briefed on highly classified US intelligence. While Musk is known for his tendency to plow himself into his work, the day-to-day duties as speaker of the House are considerable.

Musk would also have to give up one powerful aspect of the speakership: the ability to become president. Musk was born in South African to non-US citizens, making him unable to satisfy the US Constitution's requirement that only "natural-born" citizens can become president.

In this event, the House Speaker would not be second in line of succession after the vice president. Instead, the president pro tempore of the US Senate would move up. The president pro tempore is often the senior most member of the majority party, meaning it will likely be Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is 91.