House Republican leaders pulled bipartisan legislation that would fund the federal government after multibillionaire Elon Musk whipped up opposition with a misinformation-packed posting frenzy of more than 100 tweets on the subject on X. Musk led the charge and was later joined by Donald Trump.
The federal government will need critical funding after Friday or face a shutdown. If a shutdown occurs, many government employees will stop working and miss their paychecks. A shutdown would lead to a loss of productivity that could end up costing the U.S. economy billions. The previous Republican-engineered shutdown of the government from 2018 to 2019 caused an estimated $3 billion hit to the U.S. economy, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Politico reports that Trump’s team was reportedly briefed on the outlines of the deal and originally did not object to the contents. It was not until Musk’s tweets that Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance voiced their opposition.
“House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited on the American people that results from a government shutdown, or worse,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in remarks to reporters. Jeffries and other Democrats have supported the provisions of the bill that would provide disaster relief to thousands of Americans affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene.
Multiple members of the Democratic caucus slammed the maneuver and mocked “President Elon Musk” for his new influence.
“And just like that, Republican Unelected Co-President Elon Musk has killed the bill to keep the government from shutting down on Friday. All he had to do was make a few social media posts,” Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost wrote, adding, “Trump said he’d empower working people, all he’s done is empower the ultra wealthy.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington posted a photo showing the timeline of Musk opposing the bill and how Trump didn’t come on board until eleven hours later. She noted, “It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump. Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, (continuing resolution) succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead.”
“Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government. The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring? Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said.
Appearing on MSNBC, New York Rep. Daniel Goldman said, “It’s not Donald Trump asking for this. It’s very clearly President Elon Musk asking for this.”
Vermont Rep. Becca Balint posted a video mocking Republicans for privately fuming over Musk asserting his power over the Republican Party and wrote, “He’s been elected to nothing and has no place inserting himself like he’s the president when Congress is trying to get disaster relief to those who need it.”
Elon Musk is not an elected official. He’s been elected to nothing and has no place inserting himself like he’s the president when Congress is trying to get disaster relief to those who need it. pic.twitter.com/vdU43N3Gp5— Rep. Becca Balint (@RepBeccaB) December 18, 2024
Musk’s flurry of posts also happened to be littered with lies about the contents of the legislation. He claimed that it contained a 40% pay increase for Congress, $3 billion for Washington, D.C., to build a stadium for the NFL’s Washington Commanders, and alleged that the bill would block Republicans from investigating the Jan. 6 committee. Every single one of those claims is false—as is a post Musk amplified that said the legislation would fund “bioweapons labs.”
The promotion of falsehoods about the bill echoes the fashion in which under Musk’s leadership X has become a massive source of unchecked misinformation on a host of issues.
In the 2024 election cycle Musk invested at least $250 million in assuring that Trump would win the race. Trump and his team have bent over backward to accommodate the South African magnate. With Musk at his side providing a massive propaganda megaphone, the worst excesses of the previous Trump administration are about to be taken to a whole other level.
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