Elon Musk is leading the charge to kill a bill to prevent a government shutdown

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is already flexing his newfound political muscle even before his ally President Donald Trump is sworn into office.

Musk helped lead a rebellion Wednesday to try to stop a bipartisan funding bill in a direct challenge to the authority of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and others in the Republican leadership who helped craft the measure . And in a remarkable twist, the rebellion appeared to have succeeded at least for a day, throwing budget negotiations into chaos and increasing the chances of a government shutdown this weekend.

“Yes,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., confirmed to reporters Wednesday night when asked if the current bill is now dead.

Musk texted X about the funding bill more than 100 times throughout the day. He repeatedly called the bill “criminal” and asked his followers to call their representatives, but he also posted memes, including one of him taking a sword to the bill and another referencing the “Kill Bill” movies from director Quentin Tarantino. Later in the day, the phrase “Kill Bill” was on X’s list of trending topics in the US.

Musk also issued a midday warning: “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” And when The hill newspaper ran a story on its website about the warning, Musk emphasized his point by approvingly posting a screenshot of the headline.

Some of Musk’s posts were inaccurate. He said a proposed congressional wage increase would be 40%, while the maximum potential wage increase in 2025 is already set at 3.8%, according to Congressional Research Service. He also said the bill “funded bioweapons labs,” referring to a screenshot from the text of the bill related to “biocontainment labs” to better prepare the United States to fight infectious diseases.

And he retweeted a false post claiming the bill includes $3 billion for a new NFL stadium in Washington, DC, saying it “shouldn’t be funded by your tax dollars.” It isn’t. The bill transfers jurisdiction for RFK Stadium from the federal government to the capital, as local leaders have been pushing to rebuild for the Washington Commanderswho plays in Maryland. The bill would not provide any money related to the site, and it would expressly prohibit the use of federal funds for a stadium there and require the district to pay for any costs associated with the transfer.

His successful lobbying efforts prompted Democrats to offer new nicknames for Musk, including “shadow president” and “co-president.”

Musk announced his opposition to the bill at 4:15 a.m. ET Wednesday.

“This bill should not be passed” He said X.

The statement put Musk on a limb as one of the first political figures to come out against the bill, but 13 hours later Trump himself said he agreed. What happened in between was a furious online campaign directed by Musk to try to kill the bill, which he said was “criminal” because of its 1,547-page length and how much money it would spend.

The measure would have kept the government funded until mid-March. A shutdown is expected to begin at 12:01 a.m. Saturday with no action from Congress.

Musk has never held political office and had barely voted until recently, but his influence is growing due to the combination of his vast wealth, his online celebrity, his ownership of X, and his monetary and personal support for Trump’s political comeback in the autumn.

Late. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire was one of several Democrats who questioned whether Trump was being rolled by Musk.

“You have to ask Donald Trump — if Elon Musk makes the decisions,” Shaheen said Wednesday.

Asked why Trump waited to announce his opposition until hours after Musk and others had criticized the bill, a Trump transition team official said: “He left everyone wondering what he was going to do. All eyes were on him. When he moved, it was over. He is president before he becomes president.”

President Joe Biden’s term ends on January 20.

Musk’s position in the Trump administration will be as a non-government adviser through his co-chair of a government efficiency commission, so his actual authority is harder to gauge than that of a cabinet secretary or a full-time White House staffer.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment, including whether he plans to play a similar role in more legislative debates next year.

Late. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said on X: “Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan deal to fund our government. The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it. Will the Republicans kiss the ring? Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government.”

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, spent more than $250 million this year to boost Trump and other Republicans in the Nov. 5 election. Since then, his own wealth has risen to more than $450 billion, making him the richest person on the planet, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. SpaceX is a large government contractor.

On the social media app Bluesky, Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said: “Republican non-elect co-president Elon Musk has killed the bill to prevent the government from shutting down on Friday. All he had to do was make a few posts on social media.”

Musk seemed to acknowledge his influence and responded with a “greeting face” emoji to a compliment to X proclaiming his power.

Several Republican lawmakers said they were glad Musk intervened, but stopped short of giving him all the credit or blame for the failure of the budget negotiations.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said: “Elon made a pretty serious post there. But, you know, that’s the sentiment of the American people. That’s why we won on Nov. 5. Everybody’s tired of overspending. ”

Late. Asked about Musk’s comments on the bill, Ted Budd, RN.C., said, “He’s very influential.”

At least one conservative lawmaker, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., declined to give Musk credit. He said he opposed the funding bill before Musk did.

“I appreciate Elon Musk following me,” Burchett said on CNN.

Late. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Musk tapped into or reflected “a lot of anger out there.”

A Senate Republican aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said Musk’s role was not critical and risked a backlash. “I think CR was already prepared without Elon, but I wouldn’t be thrilled about him playing this role if I were Trump,” the aide said, using the initialism for a “continuing decision.”

There was no guarantee that Musk’s resistance would succeed. When he announced his opposition, betting site Polymarket gave a 12% chance of a government shutdown this weekend. All day, amid Musk’s flurry of tweets, odds increased to 40%.

Many of his posts on X received tens of thousands of views, according to the app’s publicly visible data. His first announcement opposing the bill was viewed 32 million times, and a post with a photo of the bill asking, “Have you ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” was viewed 27 million times.