Musk, Ramaswamy urge Republicans to vote against deal to prevent US government shutdown

HOUSTON, United States (AA) – Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are urging Republicans in Congress to vote against a bipartisan measure that would prevent a government shutdown at the end of the week, media outlets reported Wednesday.

The continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through March 14 was agreed to late Tuesday by Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate chambers, with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson giving the stopgap bill his stamp of approval.

Congress is expected to vote on the bill on Friday, but Musk and Ramaswamy, who will head President-elect Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), are urging Republicans to vote against the measure, claiming it is exactly the opposite of what their new department wants.

“This bill should not pass,” Musk posted on his X platform. “Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” he said, referring to the 1,547-page CR document.

Ramaswamy chimed in on the deal. “It’s full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO,” Ramaswamy wrote on X.

“Congress has known about this deadline since they created it in late September,” he said. “There’s no reason why this couldn’t have gone through the standard process, instead of being rushed to a vote right before Congressmen want to go home for the holidays. The urgency is 100% manufactured.”

Republicans will take control of both congressional chambers in 2025, which Johnson said will give Trump and the Republican Party a clear advantage.

“I was communicating with Elon last night. Elon and Vivek and I are on a text chain together, and I was explaining to them the background of this,” Johnson told Fox News. “They understand the situation. They said, ‘It’s not directed at you, Mr. Speaker, but we don’t like the spending.’ And I said, ‘Guess what, fellas? I don’t either.'”

Some of the major funding in the continuing resolution includes $100 billion in hurricane disaster relief for southeastern states devastated by hurricanes Helene and Milton; $10 billion for economic aid to farmers and ranchers; and $2 billion to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the state of Maryland, which collapsed in late March.

Johnson said the stopgap measure will allow Trump and Republicans to run full steam ahead once the 119th congressional session begins Jan. 3.

“Right now, Democrats still control and that’s the problem. So, we have to get this thing done so we don’t have the shutdown, so we get the short-term funding measure, and we get to March where we can put our fingerprints on the spending,” said Johnson. “That’s when the big changes start and we can’t wait to get there.”

Lawmakers must vote on the bill by the end of Friday to avoid a shutdown. The current funding for major federal offices is set to expire Friday at midnight.