Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on the potential shut down of the US Government

A potential US government shutdown is on the cards as Donald Trump calls on Republican lawmakers to reject a cross-party funding bill.  

The incoming president's urging Congress to scrap the deal and pass a streamlined bill. 

His intervention follows heavy criticism of the bill by tech billionaire Elon Musk. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Heather du Plessis-Allan the deadline for an agreement is tomorrow night. 

He says so far they won't have the bi-partisan vote numbers by that time. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And Richard Arnold out of the US is with us
right now? Richard, Hello, good morning. How Christmas approaching right?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yep?

Speaker 1 (00:06):
And a shutdown looming?

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yet?

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Will there be a shutdown over the holidays with many
government workers getting no money, no pay, maybe a delay
in pensions for seniors and vets, and again no cash
for Christmas? That is entirely possible because of Elon Musk,
the world's richest man, has torpedoed a Republican backfunding deal.
So now they're scrambling at the minute to fix this

(00:29):
thing by deadline time, which is tomorrow night, folks. So
far they do not have the by partisan vote numbers
to pass another Elon Musk approved spending plan by the
time of that deadline. So happy Christmas, app happy end
of yew Holidays. Elon Musk, by the way, put four
hundred and ninety million dollars New Zealand into the Trump
election campaign. Since Trump one, Elon has gained a financial

(00:52):
windfall whose total wealth, they say are shot up by
three hundred and one billion dollars New Zealand to a
grand total of eight and sixty billion. Also, Elon now
looks to have taken residence at Marra Lago Trumps Florida estate.
He's there most of the times that would have hanging around. Now.
Elon was not elected to anything. He's just a businessman
who gets most of his money from government contracts, especially

(01:13):
with SpaceX. But he says the spending bill should not
include money for cleaning up after natural disasters hurricanes, fires,
flatter tornadoes. Pecked with those folks. And he's posted more
than one hundred tweets in the last twenty four hours
or exites or whatever, and on his social media site
that he owns saying the government spending bill should be quashed.
In one he says, quote, shutting down the government is
infinitely better than passing a horrible bill. Well thanks, wy,

(01:37):
in effect the almost trillionaire. The way this played out
has Democrats and some Republicans calling Musks the president or
shadow president. It was Musk who first delayed the government's
spending beat deal. Only after that did Trump sign on
with his comments. So who's calling the shots. He's running
the show, asked former Republican Congressman Adam Kinsinger.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
President Musk this morning made it clear with all his
vat vast government experience, which is basically he became rich
on the federal government that he doesn't want Republicans to
pass this, and seemingly Vice President Trump kind of backed
him up then at that point. And what it says
about the politics is this is going to be a
messy four years. Oh.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Democrat Primula Jipoul says, it is clear who's in charge,
and she suggests it ain't Trump. It will be their
fault that Americans don't get disaster relief, that Americans don't
get their Social Security checks, that is on the Republicans.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Mike Johnson negotiated a deal with Leader Jeffries and Chuck
Schumer and.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Joe Biden, and now he's renaking on the deal because
the Shadow President Elon Musk said that we shouldn't be
doing this deal.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
So this is on them.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, right now, it looks like the only way for
the government shutdown to be averted is with Democratic Party
votes in the House. Will the dem say Republican House
Speaker Johnson says, the leader of the House Democrats became Jeffries.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited
upon the American people that results from a government shutdown.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
All this puts the Speaker about Johnson's third in line
to the presidency by the way in danger. Will he
survive or will the Republican civil wars take down yet
another speaker. That speaker, one of the most senior officials
in the government here, was pleading with Musk and his offsider,
failed presidential contender Vivak Romaswami until late last night to
let the spending deal go through.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Elin of Vivek and I are on a text chain
together and I was explaining to them the background of this. Remember, guys,
we still have just a razor thin margin of Republican.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Really, the elected speaker begging rich outsiders to let him
keep the government running. Meantime, Trump and now has jumped
on board in support of Elin Musk, while also calling
for the amount of the debt the US can have
the so called debt ceiling to be increased so it
doesn't have to be done on his watch. So on
one hand they're calling for spending cuts, on the other
demanding a spending cap increase. Also they can blame each

(04:05):
other for the living financial woes and all the while
who suffers well, of course it's yeah, government workers, vets,
seniors and the poor. Ah. Yeah, brilliant souff. Hey listen, Richard,
go and have yourself lovely Christmas has been lovely, chet too,
look after yourself. It's Darnald are us corresponding?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Here?

Speaker 1 (04:21):
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