Musk says US lawmakers who vote to avert government shutdown should be ousted

Donald Trump ally Elon Musk said on Wednesday that U.S. lawmakers who vote for a stopgap measure to fund the government past Saturday should be voted out of office, a move that could complicate the U.S. 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 and world's richest person wrote on his X social media platform.

The federal government will run out of money to fund operations on Saturday unless Congress acts. Negotiators on Tuesday agreed on a deal to extend funding through March 14.


Musk spent more than $250 million to help fuel President-elect Trump's November election win, 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 told Fox News that he had told Musk and Ramaswamy on Tuesday 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."

Johnson already faces opposition from many of his fellow Republicans, who object to additional spending and unrelated measures that have been added to the package.

Musk has emerged as one of the biggest spenders in U.S. politics this year, and his threat could resonate with some Republicans. It likely carries less weight with Democrats who represent solidly liberal areas, or senators from both parties who will not stand for re-election for another six years. Musk tried and failed in November to influence the outcome of the Senate Republicans' leadership contest.

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.