The failure of the slimmer government funding bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump and meme-wielding billionaire Elon Musk pushed the federal government closer to a midnight Friday shutdown. But it also gave new life to D.C.’s efforts to lure the Commanders back to their ancestral home.

“We aren’t dead yet,” a congressional source told Front Office Sports after the House voted down an alternative spending bill, 174–235, Thursday night.

The RFK Stadium bill and the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through March was put in doubt after Musk uncorked a series of tweets about the size of the bill along with proclaiming a potential stadium for the Commanders in D.C. “should not be funded by your tax dollars!”

Ultimately, the RFK provision—which would let D.C. develop the land where the stadium is still being demolished—was removed from the most recent, slimmer funding bill.

Since it was introduced in the House in July 2023, the RFK Stadium bill has never had any funding attached to it. In fact, the version that exited the House Oversight Committee and was approved by a 348–55 vote in the GOP-controlled House in February already included language that guarded against the very thing Musk called out. “The District may not use federal funds for stadium purposes on the campus, including training facilities, offices, and other structures necessary to support a stadium,” the bill states.