Valencia's chamber of commerce estimated that 48,000 companies have been affected.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says he joked with Elon Musk about taking his job after several members of the Republican delegation in the chamber floated the billionaire Tesla CEO for the role.

Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said that the package could be dead in the water, arguing that Musk pulls the strings in the lower chamber and could tank the bid with a post to social media.

The GOP holds an exceptionally slim majority in the lower chamber, and many House Republicans are already floating names for his potential replacement.

The US is edging towards another government shutdown after the lower chamber of Congress failed to pass a spending bill to keep federal agencies open.