Tech billionaire Elon Musk is pushing against the stopgap spending bill unveiled Tuesday night that would keep the government funded through mid-March, he wrote on social media.
The spending deal was met with swift backlash from conservatives in the House, with many Republicans lamenting the bill for including large amounts of spending. Musk, a close advisor of President-elect Donald Trump, tried to torpedo the bill starting early Wednesday morning in a flurry of posts to social media platform X.
“This bill should not pass,” Musk wrote on X.
Musk was replying to a tweet posted by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who was tapped alongside Musk to lead Trump’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” to cut down on government spending. Ramaswamy also railed against the spending deal in his post on X.
Ramaswamy wrote that the bill is “full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO.”
The vote on the spending bill marks a new test for GOP lawmakers in the lower chamber after many of Trump’s top allies voiced their opposition to the package. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has been spotted with Trump recently, is trying to defend the bill to avoid a potential partial government shutdown.
Johnson reacted to Musk’s post Wednesday morning on “Fox & Friends”.
“I was communicating with Elon last night. Elon and Vivek and I are on a text chain together, and I was explaining to them the background of this. And Vivek and I talked last night about almost midnight, and he said, ‘Look, I get it.’ He said, ‘We understand you’re in an impossible position,” Johnson said.
“Remember, guys, we still have just a razor thin margin of Republicans. So any bill has to have Democrat votes. They understand the situation. He said, ‘It’s not directed to you, Mr. Speaker, but we don’t like the spending.’ I said, ‘Guess what, fellas, I don’t either,’” Johnson continued.
“We got to get this done, because here’s the key. By doing this, we are clearing the decks and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with America first agenda. That’s what we’re going to run with gusto beginning January,” he added.
Throughout Wednesday, Musk continued to criticize the bill and attacked any lawmaker who is considering voting for it.
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk wrote on X.
He continued to urge his followers to call their representatives on Wednesday afternoon and ask them to oppose the bill. At one point, Musk suggested that Congress should not pass any bills until Trump takes office despite the risk of a partial government shutdown. He was quickly criticized for the tweet, with many users pointing out it would not be a popular move.
“This won’t happen, as there would be a monthlong shutdown,” Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman noted on X.
And Trump critic Ron Filipkowski said Musk’s proposal shows he has never ran for reelection in a post on X.
The final package extends existing government programs and services at their current operating levels for a few more months, through March 14, 2025.
The stopgap measure is needed because Congress has failed to pass its annual appropriations bills to fund all the various agencies in the federal government, from the Pentagon and national security apparats, to the health, welfare, transportation and other routine domestic services. When the fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, Congress simply punted the problem by passing a temporary funding bill that expires Friday.
But the inches-thick bill goes beyond routine funding and tacks on several other measures that lawmakers are trying to push through to passage before the end of this congressional session, especially as some elected officials will not be returning in the new year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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