Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk unleashed a flood of misinformation about Congress’s end-of-year funding deal Wednesday, as he pushed Republicans to torpedo the stopgap bill.
Musk, a close ally of President-elect Trump, turned to his social platform X just hours after the continuing resolution was unveiled Tuesday night to argue the deal “should not pass.”
He launched a flurry of posts and reposts, occasionally spreading incorrect information about everything from lawmaker pay raises to the cost of a football stadium in Washington, D.C.
The 20-hour campaign was ultimately successful, prompting Trump to disavow the measure and send Republicans back to the drawing board.
“X has become almost this megaphone for Elon Musk, where he can either shout at congresspeople or give this halo effect to questionable accounts that are providing questionable or false information,” said Erik Nisbet, director of Northwestern University’s Center for Communication & Public Policy.
Musk’s crusade against the spending bill began with an unfounded criticism that the measure would include “a 40% pay increase” for Congress, posted to his personal account and the X account for his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).
The claim was based on another user’s post, which asserted that the legislation would raise lawmaker salaries from $174,000 to $243,000.
The funding deal did remove language that previously blocked lawmakers from receiving a raise. However, the maximum potential January adjustment is 3.8 percent, which would result in a $6,600 raise, according to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service.
The $243,000 number appears to have been pulled from the same report but refers to the salary lawmakers would be receiving now if they had secured a cost-of-living increase every year since 1992. Lawmakers have not received a raise since 2009.
Another claim amplified by Musk is that the bill would prevent any investigation into the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. However, the bill’s text makes no mention of the riot and only clarifies that House data stored elsewhere is still under the control of House rules.
The tech billionaire also alleged the stopgap bill would fund bioweapons labs, building on a post from the popular conservative account Libs of TikTok.
However, the legislation seeks to provide funds for biocontainment labs, not bioweapons labs, that would conduct research to “support public health and medical preparedness for, and rapid response to, biological agents, including emerging infectious diseases.”
And Musk even reposted a suggestion that the bill would pave the way for a new D.C. football stadium that would be a “taxpayer-funded playground for NFL elites, lobbyists, and VIPs.”
The bill actually just transfers control of the site — not funds — to D.C. local government for development, which may include a stadium, commercial and residential development or other facilities.
“A lot of [Musk’s] strategy is really leveraging his personal brand, throwing a lot of different claims against the wall to see what sticks,” Nisbet added.
Congress is racing to reach a deal on government funding ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline. The bipartisan bill released Tuesday would have punted the deadline to mid-March.
Musk and other Trump allies almost immediately railed against the deal and urged Republicans to vote against it. By Wednesday afternoon, GOP lawmakers were increasingly defecting, and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was considering alternatives.
Trump confirmed his opposition to the deal Wednesday, urging his party to instead pass a “streamlined spending bill” with fewer concessions to Democrats.
“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” Trump said in a statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country. Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH.”
The rejection came hours into Musk’s attacks on the bill, prompting criticism of his apparent influence over Congress’s decisionmaking.
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), the youngest member of Congress, decried Musk as “Republican Unelected Co-President” for effectively killing the bill. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) expressed similar frustration.
“Elon Musk snaps his fingers and we shut down the government? It’s unacceptable,” Dingell said. “We’re in office to serve the people we represent, not unelected billionaires.”
Across the aisle, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) urged Musk to “take 5 seconds to check your sources before highlighting bottom feeders looking for clicks.” Musk had replied to a post accusing Crenshaw of leading the push for congressional pay raises.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) also suggested the billionaire’s remarks were “premature,” saying he “should’ve gotten the facts.”
Musk has become a crucial figure in Trump’s inner circle in the wake of the election, reportedly sitting in on job interviews and calls with world leaders alongside the president-elect.
The billionaire, who spent at least $250 million boosting Trump’s reelection bid, at one point labeled himself “first buddy.”
“We’ve seen such a fusion of Trump and Musk, it’s hard to know where they stop and start anymore,” Nisbet said.
