• Republicans in Congress withdrew a spending bill after pressure from Elon Musk.
• The bill aimed to keep the government funded through mid-March.
• Trump had also called on Republicans to renegotiate the bill.

Congressional Republicans scrapped a last-minute spending bill that would keep the government funded thought mid-March after a pressure campaign from Elon Musk.

CNN and The Washington Post reported the bill had been killed.

Earlier on Wednesday, Musk wrote in a post on X, "Your elected representatives have heard you, and now the terrible bill is dead. The voice of the people has triumphed!"

The bipartisan bill was backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who had said he spoke Tuesday with Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy about their criticisms of the bill. Musk and Ramaswamy are set to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, which will serve as an advisory group to the Trump administration focused on cutting government spending.

In a post on X, Musk endorsed the idea of shutting down the government until January 20, when President-elect Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated.

Shortly after Musk's post, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance issued a statement calling on Republicans to renegotiate the bill.

Trump threatened that Republican lawmakers who failed to fall in line would face political consequences.

"If Republicans try to pass a clean Continuing Resolution without all of the Democrat 'bells and whistles' that will be so destructive to our Country, all it will do, after January 20th, is bring the mess of the Debt Limit into the Trump Administration, rather than allowing it to take place in the Biden Administration," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried," Trump added. "Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025."

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told CNN Republicans scrapped the bill after Trump came out against it.

The Biden administration subsequently accused Trump and Vance of "playing politics," hurting "hardworking Americans," and creating "instability" with the last-minute rejection of the legislation.

"Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones and endanger the basic services Americans from veterans to Social Security recipients rely on," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. "A deal is a deal. Republicans should keep their word."

Some Democratic senators blamed Musk for the package falling apart, suggesting the billionaire already has an outsized influence on Congress' ability to pass legislation.

Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat who lost his re-election bid, told CNN that Wednesday's series of events were "bizarre, disturbing, and dangerous."

"Just the fact they're even talking about this because of a comment by one person that triggers this kind of result, it doesn't bode well for the new Congress or the new administration," he told the outlet.

• Mark Zuckerberg met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
• Trump and Zuckerberg, who did not endorse a candidate for president, have had a rocky relationship.
• Trump previously threatened to jail Zuckerberg if he was elected.

Mark Zuckerberg became the latest tech CEO to meet with President-elect Donald Trump.

The Meta CEO met with Trump at the latter's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving. A spokesperson for Meta confirmed to Business Insider that the dinner occurred. The New York Times first reported the meeting.

"It's an important time for the future of American Innovation. Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming Administration," the statement said.

Details about the meeting were not immediately clear. Representatives for Trump did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president in the 2024 election.

He has had a contentious relationship with Trump, who earlier this year threatened to jail the billionaire if he were elected.

Zuckerberg praised how Trump responded to the assassination attempt in July.

"On a personal note, seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I've ever seen in my life," Zuckerberg said.

After Trump won the election, Zuckerberg was among the many tech and business leaders who congratulated him.

"Congratulations to President Trump on a decisive victory. We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country," he wrote in a Threads post the day after the election. "Looking forward to working with you and your administration."

Trump and Zuckerberg met at least twice during the president-elect's first term, including in an unannounced White House meeting and at a secret dinner with billionaire Peter Thiel in October 2019, according to several reports.

In 2021, Trump suggested he should have banned Facebook while he was in office, but said, "Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was."

Facebook suspended the former president's account on the platform after the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Meta reinstated Trump's accounts in 2023.

Zuckerberg isn't the only tech CEO to visit Mar-a-Lago in the wake of Trump's win.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who played a major role in Trump's campaign, spent election night with Trump at the Florida resort and has spent time there since.

Update: November 27, 2024 — This story has been updated with a statement from Meta confirming the meeting.

• Trump nominated Scott Bessent, a billionaire investor, for Treasury secretary.
• Bessent spent years working for George Soros before founding a hedge fund.
• He's signaled support for many of Trump's proposals, including deregulation and tariffs.

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Scott Bessent, a Wall Street veteran and campaign ally, for Treasury secretary, one of the biggest Cabinet prizes.

Trump made the announcement Friday evening in a Truth Social post after multiple news organizations reported the plans. Trump's spokesperson did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

"Scott is widely respected as one of the World's foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists," Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, "we will ensure that no Americans will be left behind in the next and Greatest Economic Boom, and Scott will lead that effort for me, and the Great People of the United States of America."

Bessent, 62, founded and runs the macro hedge fund Key Square Group and emerged as a key economic advisor to Trump on the campaign trail.

Bessent was a top choice for Trump early in the cabinet selection process. He widened his search, however, adding Kevin Warsh and billionaire investor Marc Rowan to the mix after growing frustrated by the "knife fight" jockeying between Bessent and Howard Lutnick over the position, The New York Times reported.

Elon Musk chimed in during that time, throwing his support behind Lutnick for Treasury secretary.

"My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change," Musk wrote.

But Trump nominated Lutnick for commerce secretary on Tuesday. Axios reported Monday that Warsh was eyeing Fed chair in the future.

Bessent's journey to the top tier of the GOP financial world hasn't been entirely linear, though — it includes years working for the liberal philanthropist George Soros and hosting a fundraiser for Al Gore, a former Democratic vice president.

The billionaire investor spent his childhood in South Carolina. His father went bankrupt investing in real estate, which Bessent later said led him to get his first summer job when he was 9 years old, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bessent attended Yale and broke onto the investing scene after working for Soros' first partner, James Rogers. He joined Soros Fund Management in 1991.

By 2011, Bessent was Soros' chief investment officer, and he was instrumental in the fund's hugely successful bets against the British pound and Japanese yen. In 2015, Bessent broke off to start Key Square. He hasn't talked to Soros in years, The Wall Street Journal said.

In 2011, Bessent married his husband, John Freeman, a former New York City prosecutor. They primarily live in Charleston, South Carolina, with their two children. They spend their spare time preserving historic mansions and used to own an 1880s-era house in Southampton, New York.

Despite his nomination that would put him at the center of Trumpworld, Bessent has a somewhat checkered political history. He disagreed with much of the work Soros did through his nonprofit and has primarily donated to Republican candidates, though he's helped Democrats on occasion. In 2000, Bessent held a fundraiser at his home for Gore's presidential bid.

By 2016, Bessent was inching toward Trump, telling people they weren't taking Trump seriously enough as a candidate. After Trump won, Bessent donated $1 million to his inaugural committee. Though Bessent has known Trump's family for decades, the 2024 election brought him closer to the former and future president — Trump has called Bessent "one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street" and "a nice-looking guy." Rather than slam Bessent for his previous connections to Soros, a favorite right-wing punching bag, Trump appears impressed by how successful he was at Soros' firm.

Bessent donated $3 million to Trump-aligned PACs and Republican committees this election cycle. His support extended beyond his pocketbook, as he frequently conferred with campaign officials on economic plans. Known for his interest in niche economic data, Bessent helped draft speeches and write policy proposals for Trump's economic ideas. By the end of the race, Bessent was fully woven into Trump's orbit; he attended the last two rallies and watched from Mar-a-Lago as election results rolled in.

As treasury secretary, Bessent would face a mixed economic landscape. While unemployment is low and the economy is growing at a healthy clip, Americans remain frustrated by high prices and what they see as runaway inflation. Dubbed a "Trump whisperer" by Forbes, Bessent has signaled support for some of Trump's key proposals.

Among Bessent's top priorities is shrinking the country's significant debt, primarily through increasing growth and, in turn, boosting tax revenues. He has also supported Trump's tariffs proposal, telling CNBC that they should be "layered in gradually" to spread out any inflationary impact. At one point, Bessent floated the idea of a shadow Federal Reserve chair — under his theory, Trump would nominate a replacement to lead the central bank before Jerome Powell's term ends in 2026. After facing blowback, Bessent walked back the idea.

Bessent has advised Trump on a "3-3-3 policy," which the Journal described as "cutting the budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product by 2028, spurring GDP growth of 3% through deregulation, and producing an additional 3 million barrels of oil or its equivalent a day."

On November 10, the Journal published an opinion piece by Bessent that praised Trump's economic vision. The markets, he wrote, were evidently giddy about the former president's return to the White House. Beyond lavishing praise on Trump, he said that the US should slash bank regulations, overhaul the Inflation Reduction Act, and reinvigorate American energy investment.

"Mr. Trump has turned around the economy before, and he is ready to do so again," Bessent said.