Tech mogul Elon Musk continued his tirade against the newly unveiled end-of-year funding deal Wednesday, calling for any lawmaker who supports the continuing resolution to be voted out of office.
“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 a post on his social platform X.
“Please call your elected representatives right away to tell them how you feel!” he added in a separate post. “They are trying to get this passed today while no one is paying attention.”
Congressional leaders are racing to pass a stopgap funding bill, called a continuing resolution (CR), to avoid a government shutdown Friday.
The bipartisan deal unveiled Tuesday night would punt the funding deadline to March 14, giving the incoming Republican majorities in both chambers more time to hash out funding with President-elect Trump.
Musk came out against the deal early Wednesday morning, saying it “should not pass” and labelling it a big “piece of pork.”
The billionaire and close ally of Trump is set to lead the brand-new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, which aims to slash government costs.
His DOGE co-chair, Vivek Ramaswamy, also urged lawmakers to vote against the deal Wednesday if they are “serious about government efficiency,” suggesting it is “full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways and pork barrel politics”
“The legislation will end up hurting many of the people it purports to help. Debt-fueled spending sprees may ‘feel good’ today, but it’s like showering cocaine on an addict: it’s not compassion, it’s cruelty,” Ramaswamy wrote on X.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he spoke to both Musk and Ramaswamy on Tuesday night about their concerns, although it does not appear to have averted the push to torpedo the bill.
“Elon, Vivek and I were 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,’” Johnson told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning. “He said, ‘We understand you’re in an impossible position. Everybody knows that.’”
“Remember, guys, we still have just a razor-thin margin of Republicans. So any bill has to have Democratic votes,” Johnson added. “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.”
Musk and Ramaswamy are among several top Trump allies to urge lawmakers to oppose the CR.
Donald Trump Jr. and Steve Bannon also called on Republicans to vote against the spending bill Wednesday.
