Elon Musk pressures Republican majority to kill bill that would avert government shutdown

The spending bill that Republicans and Democrats had agreed on this week to avoid a government shutdown on Friday is in danger of dying after president-elect Donald Trump condemned it on Wednesday night. So has his future vice president, J. D. Vance, and most of all Elon Musk, who has been instrumental in channeling Republican opposition to the initiative. House Speaker Mike Johnson has defended the 1,500-page package, but failed to convince a number of reluctant fellow Republicans. Crucial items such as Social Security payments and the salaries of members of the Armed Forces depend on government funding.

Trump’s rejection came after the deal faced a barrage of criticism on social media from Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the two billionaires who will lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is theoretically outside the Cabinet and has been tasked with cutting public spending during the next administration. Johnson has complained in a veiled way about the pernicious influence of external actors — who can be none other than Musk and Ramaswamy, although he did not mention them by name — willing to derail any law if politicians do not accede to their wishes.

Criticism of Musk’s move has set social media alight. “The richest man in the world says he wants to shut down the government, forcing millions of American workers — including our troops — to go without pay through the holidays. Republicans are following his orders. This is insane,” wrote Democratic Representative Don Beyer, responding to a post by Musk, in which he approved with a simple YES (in capital letters) a previous message by an unknown user that read: “Just close down the government until January 20. Defund everything. We’ll be fine for 33 days,” alluding to the time remaining until Trump’s inauguration.

Johnson’s initiative, which began as a simple spending bill to keep money pumping into the government until early next year, was swollen through bipartisan negotiations to include $100 billion in disaster aid and dozens of unrelated policies, including a new round of aid for Ukraine (a war the president-elect wants to see ended “on day one of his term”). Trump rejected the new omnibus legislation outright, saying that a “temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS” must be passed and that it should be combined with an increase in the debt ceiling, the limit on how much money the government can borrow to meet its financial obligations.

“We should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want,” Trump wrote on social media in a joint statement with Vance. That statement followed Musk’s social media crusade against the bill, in which he relentlessly posted instructions to lawmakers to shoot it down. Republicans who back the legislation have said they are losing support because of Musk’s barrage of posts.

“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!,” Musk wrote in one post. His criticism has resonated with the Republican caucus, and even those who had traditionally supported stopgap funding measures have now turned against it. Senator John Cornyn called the bill a “monstrosity.” Representative Ralph Norman alluded to the compromise with voters: “The American people wanted change. They didn’t say go out and spend more money, put us more into debt. It’s the opposite of what the American people voted for.”

Trump is pushing for Republicans to rewrite the funding bill and add a federal debt ceiling increase, but many Republicans are balking at the latter, calling it politically toxic. The fight reflects the difficulty the party will face in raising the debt limit on its own next year, even if it enjoys full control of Congress. “Increasing the debt ceiling is not great,” Trump acknowledged in the statement, “but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch.”

‘Kill the Bill’

Musk, the richest man in the world, has decisively pushed critical Republicans — both ultra-conservative ones and some from the mainstream — to torpedo the legislative project. But his maneuver goes beyond his influence on the president-elect. The billionaire businessman, a major donor to Trump’s campaign, has also challenged the party leadership in the House, embodied in the figure of Johnson, whose continuity as speaker he has not expressed himself on, although few people believe he will remain in the position, least of all Musk.

In the face of GOP opposition, a vote scheduled for Wednesday night has been suspended. The House will reconvene on Thursday and lawmakers will try to push the funding bill through in extremis.

In a post on the social network X, the technology entrepreneur, who has been Trump’s permanent shadow in the final stretch of the campaign and, above all, since his re-election, wrote on Tuesday night: “Absolutely, this bill should NOT pass. A new bill that isn’t an insane crime against the American people should be done in 33 days,” the time remaining until Trump takes office. In subsequent posts on the social network he owns, Musk has insisted on the obligation to overturn any legislation before the start of the new government. “No bills should be passed Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office. None. Zero,” he repeated, using the slogan “Kill the Bill,” which has become almost a tick on his timeline.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition