Why Democrats are blaming 'President Musk' for US govt shutdown

The United States government is set to shut down at midnight on Friday.

And Elon Musk is the driving force behind it.

Musk, a big supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump, interjected himself into the process.

This will be the first government shutdown since one that extended through December 2018 into 2019, during Trump’s first four-year White House term.

Democrats are now attacking the wealthiest man in the world as ‘President Musk.’

But how did it happen? And what is his role in the shutdown?

Let’s take a closer look:

Musk speaks out

Earlier this week, a 1,500-page bill to keep the government running till March 2025 was ready.

Republicans led by House Speaker Mike Johnson had negotiated the provisions of the bill with Democrats in the House – where the GOP holds a slim majority and needs opposition support for the bill to pass – as well as the Senate which is currently run by the Democrats.

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The bill set aside $100 billion for disaster relief, $10 billion in farm aid, mandating a raise for lawmakers and cracking down on hotel fees.

Then, Musk , who has been chosen to co-chair the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), threw a wrench into the works.

“This should not pass,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X.

“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”

Musk claimed it was “one of the worst bills ever written.”

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Trump, Vance chime in

After Musk’s outburst, Trump and Vice-President-elect JD Vance also chimed in.

“Republicans must get smart and tough,” Trump and Vance said in a statement. “If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then call their bluff.”

“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be primaried,” Trump wrote on social media.

Trump further demanded that Congress limit the bill to temporary spending and disaster relief and also raise the national debt ceiling now before it comes to a head next year.

“Unless the Democrats terminate or substantially extend the Debt Ceiling now, I will fight ’till the end,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.

In his statement with Vance, Trump said Republicans should restart negotiations over the legislation, arguing that “anything else is a betrayal of our country.”

“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch,” they said. “If Democrats won’t cooperate on a debt ceiling increase now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate over the debt ceiling now.”

Musk , meanwhile, continued to speak out against the bill on social media.

“Stop the steal of your tax dollars!” Musk wrote.

“No bills should be passed Congress until Jan 20, when Donald Trump takes office. None. Zero,” Musk wrote on Thursday.

The pressure seemingly worked and the bill died a quick death.

Representative Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky, said his office was flooded with calls from constituents.

“My phone was ringing off the hook,” he said. “The people who elected us are listening to Elon Musk.”

As per NBC, Fox News hosts were celebrating Musk’s new found powers.

Host Sean Hannity said there’s “a new sheriff in town,” while Jesse Watters added that Musk “blew up the bill all day.”

Musk is now “the center of the universe on Capitol Hill in a way that nobody has ever seen,” Fox and Friends’ Peter Doocy said.

New bill goes down in flames

As per NPR, on Thursday House Republicans unveiled a new bill more in line with Trump and Musk’s demands.

However, the bill failed in the House of Representatives after 235 members including 38 Republicans voted against it.

Among those was Representative Chip Roy of Texas.

“Yes, I think this bill is better than it was yesterday on certain respects, but to take this bill … and congratulate yourself because it’s shorter in pages — but increases the debt by $5 trillion — is asinine, and that’s precisely what Republicans are doing,” Roy said on the floor as per NBC.

However, even a simple majority wouldn’t have been enough to pass the bill.

Under the expedited measures, the bill would have required a two-thirds majority.

Johnson, the House Speaker, tried to stay upbeat.

“We will regroup and we will come up with another solution,” Johnson told reporters as per NPR. “So stay tuned.”

But it was a dramatic turn of events for Johnson, who negotiated the bill and has been undermined by Trump as he faces re-election for his post in just a couple of weeks.

Representative Jon Bacon, Nebraska, told the outlet Trump and Johnson have been in touch.

“I feel bad for Speaker Johnson but I do think today, once they sat down and talked through it, I believe that the speaker made a convincing case that what we had was a pretty good bill,” Bacon said.

“What we took away from the president is the debt ceiling’s his number one priority. It would have been helpful to know that two or three or four weeks ago.”

With Republicans having a slim majority, it raises the possibility of a replay of leadership disputes that paralysed the House a year ago.

Many lawmakers were in the middle of holiday and year-end celebrations with staff when Trump came out against the legislation.

“I’ve been here 14 years, OK? So nothing up here surprises me anymore,” said Rep. Steve Womack, a senior Republican appropriator from Arkansas. “We shouldn’t be in this mess.”

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a veteran of Washington’s budget battles, was concerned about the lack of a clear plan for resolving the dispute. “There’s got to be a second part of the strategy,” he said.

Norquist has been enthusiastic about Musk’s ability to generate public attention for efforts to reduce the size of government. But he suggested that the owner of a space rocket company wasn’t the right person to spearhead a congressional spending debate.

“He doesn’t know politics like he knows physics,” he said.

“To say this is alarming and a setback is an absolute understatement,” a veteran Republican operative told NBC.

But others were thrilled with Musk’s involvement.

“In five years in Congress, I’ve been awaiting a fundamental change in the dynamic,” posted Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican from North Carolina. “It has arrived.”

“In just the last 24 hours, we did something that we never would have been able to do before,” Charlie Kirk, the CEO of Turning Point, said as per NBC. “I want to show the power that you have — is that you, everybody in this room and everyone watching online — you defeated the Washington insiders in hours, everybody, and that CR is dead.”

“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress,” Senator Rand Paul wrote on X. “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk … think about it. .. nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds).”

Congress’s next steps remain unclear.

Bipartisan agreement will be needed to pass any spending bill through the House and Senate.

“There is no new agreement right now, just, you know, obviously looking at a number of options,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told NBC.

Senator Kevin Cramer, Nevada, said Trump might help the new bill pass.

“Quite honestly, I think one of the ways that this could get fixed fairly quickly would be if President Trump would come up to Washington tomorrow or spend the weekend here and talk to people face to face,” Cramer said.

“Let’s face it. … He’s got a lot of sway and persuasion. He acts more like the sitting president than the sitting president. And if he’d come up, I think he could help move things along.”

As per NPR, the events show how much influence Musk has over the Republican Party.

Musk, whose X bio reads “The people voted for major government reform,” appeared buoyed by the experience.

“The voice of the people was heard,” Musk wrote. “This was a good day for America.”

Democrats go on the attack

The Biden administration criticised the possibility of a shutdown.

“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said the fallout would be Republicans’ fault. “You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” he wrote on X.

Democrats have insisted that they will not give way.

NPR quoted Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as saying, “It’s a good thing the bill failed in the House. And now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement, we came to.”

Democrats also attacked Musk as being, for all intents and purposes, the functioning president.

“It appears that Elon Musk is trying to take the role as an unelected president. And in fact, Donald Trump, it appears, is following his orders,” Representative Barbara Lee told on CNN.

“It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump,” Democratic Pramila Jayapal wrote on X. “Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead.”

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont added, “Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government. The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it.”

With inputs from agencies