Congress Scrambles For Plan B After Trump, Musk Torpedo Spending Deal

The New York Times: Trump, Egged On By Musk, Condemns Spending Deal, Raising Fears Of Government Shutdown 
A bipartisan spending deal to avert a shutdown was on life support on Wednesday after President-elect Donald J. Trump condemned it, leaving lawmakers without a strategy to fund the government past a Friday night deadline. Mr. Trump issued a scathing statement ordering Republicans not to support the sprawling bill, piling on to a barrage of criticism from Elon Musk, who spent Wednesday trashing the measure on social media and threatening any Republican who supported it with political ruin. (Edmondson and Hulse, 12/18)

The Hill: Johnson Considers Plan B Amid Trump World Opposition To Spending Deal
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is looking at a plan B to fund the government ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline as Republicans inside and outside the Capitol, including President-elect Trump and his allies, slam his spending package. The back-up option Johnson is examining is a “clean” continuing resolution, two sources familiar with the matter told The Hill. That would entail dropping the additional provisions that were included in the initial 1,500-page spending package negotiated by congressional leaders, including disaster aid and economic assistance for farmers. (Schnell, 12/18)

The New York Times: What’s Inside The Spending Bill To Avoid A Government Shutdown? 
The stopgap spending bill congressional leaders agreed on this week began as a simple funding measure to keep government funds flowing past a Friday night deadline and into early next year, long after House Republicans elect a speaker and President-elect Donald J. Trump is sworn in. But by the time it was rolled out to lawmakers on Tuesday night, it had transformed into a true Christmas tree of a bill, adorned with all manner of unrelated policy measures in the kind of year-end catchall that Republicans have long derided. It is a 1,547-page behemoth of a package with provisions including foreign investment restrictions, new health care policies and a stadium site for the Washington Commanders. (Edmondson, 12/18)

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The Washington Post: Senate Passes Pentagon NDAA That Set Off Transgender-Care Debate 
The Senate on Wednesday passed an $895.2 billion defense policy bill that sparked controversy when House Speaker Mike Johnson amended the legislation with language forbidding the use of federal funds to cover specialized medical care for the transgender children of U.S. military personnel. Though several Senate Democrats protested Johnson’s 11th-hour maneuver, the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was approved 85-14 — a comfortable margin that belied the depth of frustration among lawmakers who said the legislation, as written, discriminates against thousands of military families and their right to health care. The bill heads next to the president, who is expected to sign it into law. Several senior Democratic senators said that while they shared their colleagues’ frustration with the transgender-care provision, the NDAA was too important to fail. (Hauslohner, 12/18)

KFF Health News: Democratic Senators Ask Watchdog Agency To Investigate Georgia’s Medicaid Work Rule
Three Democratic senators asked the country’s top nonpartisan government watchdog on Tuesday to investigate the costs of a Georgia program that requires some people to work to receive Medicaid coverage. The program, called “Georgia Pathways to Coverage,” is the nation’s only active Medicaid work requirement. Pathways has cost tens of millions in federal and state dollars on administration and consulting fees while enrolling 5,542 people as of Nov. 1, according to KFF Health News’ reporting. (Miller, Rayasam and Whitehead, 12/18)