Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday criticized billionaire Elon Musk, a top ally of President-elect Donald Trump, for his relentless efforts to kill a bipartisan budget deal to keep the government funded past Friday.
Musk repeatedly criticized the agreement on his platform X, formerly Twitter, with Trump seeming to follow suit by publicly coming out against the bill. Trump also threatened to back primary challenges against any Republicans who chose to support the legislation.
This leaves open the possibility of a government shutdown starting at midnight on Saturday but Musk suggested Americans should celebrate the development.
“Your elected representatives have heard you and now the terrible bill is dead,” he said. “The voice of the people has triumphed!”
Sanders slammed Musk for using his influence to help tank the bipartisan spending package that both Democrats and Republicans worked on for months.
“Will Republicans kiss the ring?” Sanders asked. “Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government.”
In a separate post on his personal account on X, Sanders also pointed out that Musk’s net worth has increased significantly since Trump won reelection. The senator also suggested that Musk’s apparent attempt to block the bill is “oligarchy at work.”
Sanders was far from the only lawmaker to take issue with Musk’s role in Wednesday’s developments.
“It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) wrote on social media, referring to Musk as “Shadow President.”
Trump’s criticism of the current version of the bill and his call for an increase in the nation’s borrowing limit took members of both parties by surprise and raised the pressure on his ally House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republican lawmakers to devise an alternative plan to avoid a government shutdown.
While Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, does not have an official position in Trump’s administration, his proximity to Trump since his election victory has made him an influential adviser. Republican members of Congress have also embraced the billionaire.
Trump has tapped Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a non-government advisory group dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency.
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Sanders has previously found common ground with Musk, siding with the billionaire on his criticism of the size of the government defense budget.
“Elon Musk is right,” Sanders said. “The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions.”