Musk says US lawmakers should not vote to extend funding, raising risk of shutdown
Government will begin partial shutdown on Saturday without congressional action
House speaker says has explained narrow margins to Musk
Musk, world's richest person, spent heavy to back Trump's election
Adds fresh quotes, details throughout
By Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson and Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) -Elon Musk, tapped by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to prune the federal government, on Wednesday pressured Republicans in Congress to reject a stopgap spending bill, which would trigger a partial government shutdown.
Musk said Congress should pass no laws until Trump returns to the White House next month, but some House of Representatives immediately said they would vote for the stopgap bill.
The Tesla chief executive and world's richest person, who spent more than $250 million to help Trump get elected, said lawmakers who vote to extend government funding past Friday should be voted out of office.
That could complicate efforts to avert a shutdown that would disrupt everything from air travel to law enforcement days before the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday.
"This criminal bill should NOT pass," Musk wrote on X, which he owns.
Unless Congress acts, the federal government will run out of money to fund operations on Saturday. Negotiators on Tuesday agreed on a deal to extend funding through March 14.
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.
House Republicans who helped negotiate the bill said Musk's opposition could complicate passage.
"They are very influential guys and people put a lot of stock in what they are saying," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, referring to Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump also tapped to propose ways to cut government spending and who also voiced opposition to the deal.
"There's never an easy fix to anything around here," Cole said.
Republican House 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 get their new 53-47 Senate majority until Jan. 3. 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."
RESTIVE REPUBLICANS
Johnson already faces opposition from many of his fellow Republicans, who object to additional spending and unrelated measuresthat have been added to the package.
Democrats described Musk's proposal to pass no new legislation until Trump takes office on Jan. 20 -- which would mean a monthlong government shutdown -- as evidence that the chaos that has marked the House Republican majority of the past two years could continue into Trump's four-year term.
"Any American can weigh in, but what we need to do is fund government, and it's a good test of who the responsible party is to fund government before the holidays," Democratic Representative Ro Khanna told Reuters."
Trump in the past has sometimes voiced support for government shutdowns, and the longest one in U.S. history -- which stretched through 34 days in December 2018 and January 2019 -- came during his first term in office.
Trump advisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
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 be up for reelection for another six years. Musk tried and failed in November to influence the outcome of the Senate Republicans' leadership contest.
'PLENTY OF VOTES'
Several House Republicans said they would vote for the package despite Musk's opposition.
"I'm not sure he understands the plight of working people when it comes especially to farmers and people devastated by disasters," said Representative Glenn Thompson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee. He predicted the bill would pass "with plenty of votes."
Johnson is considering bringing the bill up for a vote using a maneuver that bypasses hardline members of his party, according to a House leadership staffer with knowledge of his plans. That method would require a two-thirds majority, rather than the simple majority usually needed in the House.
Johnson has used that approach repeatedly, relying heavily on Democratic support to pass measures opposed by parts of his fractious majority.
A wide range of government services would be disrupted if Congress does not act before Saturday, including agencies like the Pentagon and NASA that do business with Musk's companies.
Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who is retiring, said Trump needs to tell Republicans whether to support the bill or not. "Absent direction, confusion reigns," he wrote on X.
US stopgap spending bills covers stadiums and deepfake porn as well as budget nL6N3NJ0HS
Musk’s many links to Washington https://reut.rs/3Yw9030
Reporting by Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson and Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Bo Erickson and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama, Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis
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