‘President’ Elon Musk Slammed By Democrats After He Tanks Bipartisan Spending Bill To Avert Shutdown

In a series of X posts on Wednesday, the platform’s CEO Elon Musk criticized a bipartisan spending bill that, if passed by Friday, would have prevented a government shutdown.

“This bill should not pass,” Musk wrote in one of the posts on Dec. 18.

In over 24 posts, he slammed the bill on many points, saying that it is “criminal” to include funding for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, an agency dedicated to fighting foreign propaganda and misinformation, which the Tesla CEO called a “censorship operation.”

Musk also condemned a pay increase for members of Congress in the bill, pinning the post to the top of his X profile page. “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years,” he declared in another post. 

Musk begged his followers to demand their representatives to “stop the steal of [their] tax dollars.” He also reposted the declaration that the bill would offer $3 billion for a new NFL stadium in Washington.  This is false since the bill would have transferred control of the site of the existing RFK Stadium to the D.C. local government for redevelopment, which could include a stadium. There are no federal funds changing hands as part of the transaction.

Several Republican members of Congress also declared opposition to the bill, with Musk resharing many of their comments on his platform.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) said that any member who supports the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts – led by Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – should not “support this ‘CR of Inefficiency’ that does not have offsets!!”

“Don’t get weak in the knees before we even get started,” Norman added.

However, House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the bill, calling it a necessary stopgap until the party acquires control of Congress in 2025.

In order to pass the spending bill, Johnson needs almost 90 members of his conference to support it.

House Republicans recognized that Musk’s pressure campaign has swayed the conference, but not everyone is currently giving in to the pressure. The soon-to-be vice chair of the House GOP caucus, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Michigan), told CNN that Musk is “not a member of Congress, but [she does] think he, you know, he’s a successful business owner, and he’s on the DOGE caucus. So, you know how it goes. It cuts both ways.”

However, retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Arizona), who is against the package, stated that she “absolutely” hopes Musk’s public play will persuade more of her colleagues.

By the end of the day, President-elect Donald Trump had followed Musk’s lead and issued a statement opposing the bill. Johnson was forced to pull the bill by the end of the day.

Rep. Primila Jayapal (D-Oregon) slammed “President Musk” for his efforts to kill the bill, suggesting he not Trump, is really calling the shots.

Musk is no stranger to attention-grabbing tweets. In September, Musk was slammed for reposting a post saying that only “high-status males” could be trusted to run the government. 

Last month, he also provoked rumors after sharing a suggestive meme that implied that he might purchase MSNBC after reports that Comcast plans to spin off the network.

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