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Former Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty “bluntly” told a CNN panel Friday that the federal government needs “shock value” to fix its spending crisis.

House lawmakers avoided a government shutdown Friday evening after chaos erupted on Tuesday over a 1,574-page continuing resolution (CR) filled with provisions that could have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars. On “Erin Burnett OutFront,” guest host Sara Sidner asked Pawlenty for his thoughts on Elon Musk’s involvement in calling out the bill, citing allegations that Musk spread false information online.

Sidner cited three of Musk’s assertions on X (previously known as Twitter) and said that “many different outlets” had labeled them as false. The CNN host, however, did not identify even one of those outlets.

“It’s not clear whether he knew or didn’t know whether they were false. I would want to believe, I hope, anyhow, that he didn’t know,” Pawlenty said. “But the fact of the matter is, if you’re going to be in the public arena and have this much even indirect or informal influence, you’ve got to be responsible and accountable for your words and try your very best to be accurate and ethical in that regard. So what that stream of events you just described is disappointing.”

“But I don’t want to lose a bigger side of something else — that is our country, our Congress, our federal government is in big trouble on all kinds of fronts,” Pawlenty added. “Is Elon Musk a little eccentric? Yes. Is he brilliant? Yes. Is he going to come in and say and do some things that some people are going to be unsettled by? Yes.”

Pawlenty said to the panel that the federal government is “out of control,” and warned that they soon may not be able to “fund” themselves unless there is significant change. (RELATED: Fmr RNC Comms Director Pins Congress’ ‘Failure’ On Botched ‘Working Appropriations Process’)

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“But, frankly, very bluntly, our federal government needs shock value. It is out of control. We are headed towards a very difficult set of circumstances for a whole bunch of reasons, one of which is just the deficit and the debt,” Pawlenty said. “We’re not even going to be able to fund ourselves in the not-too-distant future unless somebody significantly and substantially takes on this challenge.”

“Again, it’s imperfect. But if you just go with the usual folks, you’re going to get the usual results. Now you have an unusual leader trying to do unusual things,” Pawlenty said.

Following the release of the initial spending measure, Republicans signaled their apprehension about supporting the bill, with many voicing their criticisms. By Wednesday, GOP lawmakers introduced a revised version, slimming the 1,574-page document down to 116 pages. However, they were still unable to pass the new measure, as dozens of Republicans opposed the legislation.

By Friday evening, lawmakers eventually passed Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s stopgap spending bill after a second revision, with a final vote of 366-34.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/CNN/”Erin Burnett OutFront”)

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