Republicans scrap spending bill after Elon Musk’s pressure campaign

• Republicans in Congress have withdrawn a spending bill under pressure from Elon Musk.
• The bill aimed to maintain funding for the government until mid-March.
• Trump also called on Republicans to renegotiate the bill.

Republicans in Congress in mid-March rejected a last-minute bill that would maintain government funding after a pressure campaign from Elon Musk.

CNN and The Washington Post reported the bill failed.

Earlier Wednesday, Musk wrote in a post on X: “Your elected officials heard you and now the terrible bill is dead. The voice of the people has prevailed!”

The bipartisan bill was supported by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said he spoke with Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on Tuesday about their criticism of the bill. Musk and Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency, which will serve as an advisory group to the Trump administration focused on cutting government spending.

In a post on

Shortly after Musk’s post, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a statement calling on Republicans to renegotiate the bill.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told CNN that Republicans rejected the bill after Trump spoke out against it.