washington – Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas in comparison Elon Musk to an unelected prime minister after the Tesla’s CEO got involved in a tumultuous funding fight on Capitol Hill this week that sparked concerns of a possible government shutdown and foreshadowed the dynamics under a GOP-controlled Washington.
“We have a president, we have a vice president, we have a speaker. It feels like Elon Musk is our prime minister,” Gonzales said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
After days of uncertainty, Congress passed a measure to keep the government funded until mid-March, which President Biden signed Saturday to avoid the shutdown. But the resolution came after several failed attempts to fund the government, including a bipartisan deal that collapsed after intense pushback from Musk, who President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to lead a new agency called the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE. After Musk’s criticism, Trump finally delivered the final blow.
Musk, who spent $277 million to help Trump win the election and has since become a key member of the president-elect’s brain trust, posted dozens of times on his social media platform X opposing the initial government funding measure after its launch. Hours later, after Trump intervened, the deal was dead.
Gonzales, who was among 34 Republicans who opposed the final measure to keep the government funded, said he did so because his constituents were against the continuing resolution, or CR, “as much as I was against against the CR”.
“It was a vote on my part to say, let’s do our job,” he said, arguing that there is a “sickness in DC” that won’t be cured by “big, long bills full of pork.”
The Texas Republican said he spoke with Musk a couple of times during the week. And Gonzales argued that even though he’s not elected, Musk has a voice that is largely “a reflection of the voice of the people.” He also argued that Trump deserves credit for shrinking the bill from its initial form.
Meanwhile, the spending legislation, along with the ensuing chaos in the House, drew intense criticism of House Speaker Mike Johnson for his handling of the situation. At least one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said he would not support Johnson as speaker in the new Congress, while there were questions about his ability to retain enough support to hold the gavel.
Despite his opposition to the legislation, Gonzales said he supports Johnson as speaker, arguing that “he’s done a fantastic job keeping us all together” and noting that “he’s like the wildcats in the House.”
Gonzales said Johnson has “a tough job to begin with,” while adding that the speaker’s ability to work with the president-elect and Musk to find a solution “just shows that he has found a way.”