What we’re watching: Trump and Johnson stare down a shutdown

Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

????️ What we're watching

• House Republican leaders planned to work through Thursday night and into Friday on a Plan C for funding the government, after abandoning their deal with Democrats and failing to pass an alternative backed by President-elect Donald Trump. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Speaker Mike Johnson to return to the original deal.
• Trump is insistent that any deal eliminate the debt limit altogether, or at least punt it until after his presidency. 
• Johnson and Trump are weighing the pros and cons of a shutdown. 
• The blame game for a potential shutdown is already starting, with Vice President-elect JD Vance telling reporters Thursday that Democrats “asked for a shutdown, and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get.”
• Elon Musk’s involvement in the unraveling of the funding bill raised questions about whether he was simply getting a head start on his cost-cutting duties as the leader of the so-called Department of Governmental Efficiency with the blessing of Trump — or freelancing. If there were any hurt feelings between Trump and Musk, it was not apparent in the immediate aftermath.
• The collapse of Congress’ spending negotiations is throwing the presidential transition and preparations for Trump’s second inauguration into chaos as Washington stares down the prospect of a government shutdown just after midnight Friday.

????What’s up with the nominees?

• Senate Republicans have launched a new caucus to support Health and Human Services pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda. 
• Trump’s previous pick for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, is plotting revenge for the when the House Ethics report about him is made public.
• Members of the Trump transition arrived at the Energy Department on Tuesday to meet for the first time with department leaders.