Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-leaders of President-elect Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” panel, fired off a series of posts railing against the stopgap spending deal released just days ahead of the Dec. 20 shutdown deadline.
The tech entrepreneurs argued the deal goes against the goals of DOGE, which is focused on reducing government spending and bureaucracy.
Amid their barrage of opposition came a flurry of House Republicans echoing their concerns over the measure, and ultimately President-elect Trump and Vance came out against the continuing resolution (CR) by Wednesday afternoon.
Trump and Vance called for the House to move a "clean" CR paired with a measure to raise the debt ceiling.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is now weighing plan B options amid the pressure campaign and seems likely to move toward the president-elect's plan.
One GOP lawmaker described Musk and Ramaswamy as “influential voices” on Capitol Hill when asked about their sway with a seemingly divided Republican conference.
“They’re poised to be very involved in delivering on Donald Trump’s agenda, and we want to help accomplish that, and so we’re going to be working very closely together, and we value their input on bills that are happening right now and the ones that are to come,” said the lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Urging members not to vote for the CR, Musk described the bill as a big “piece of pork.”
He escalated his rhetoric by the afternoon, calling for any lawmaker who supports the bill to be voted out of office and suggested a moratorium on all legislation until Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Ramaswamy, in a lengthy post on X, compared the bill to “showering cocaine on an addict” and lamented Congress for trying to rush a vote so close to the holiday season.
When asked whether he has spoken to Musk about the measure, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) told The Hill, “I don’t need to. I read his tweets.”
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com on Thursday morning.
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