Donald Trump ally Elon Musk said that US lawmakers who vote for a stopgap measure that would fund the government through mid-March should be voted out of office, a move that could complicate the US Congress’ efforts to avert a partial government shutdown.
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” the Tesla chief executive wrote on his X social media platform.
The federal government will run out of money to fund operations on Saturday unless Congress acts.
Musk spent more than $250 million to help fuel President-elect Trump’s November election and has been named by Trump along with fellow businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an advisory panel to cut spending and make the government more efficient.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said that he had told Musk and Ramaswamy that his Republicans hold a narrow 219-211 majority in the House and will not control the Senate until next month.
He said the bill was necessary to keep the government operating until Trump and his fellow Republicans have full control of Congress and can fully enact promised bigger spending changes.
“Elon and Vivek and I are on a text chain together, and I was explaining to them the background of this,” he said. “They understand the situation.”
Other Republican lawmakers voiced opposition to the bill, which must pass by Friday night to prevent a partial shutdown that would start on Saturday unless Congress acts.
The tentative deal would likely keep the roughly $6.2 trillion federal budget at its current level and includes $100.4 billion in fresh disaster aid as well as $10 billion in economic aid for farmers.
