GOP Rep. Rips Musk for False Claims That Blocked Key Government Bill

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) took aim at Elon Musk on Thursday, calling out the billionaire for spreading false information about a government funding bill. Musk’s misinformation campaign played a key role in blocking the bill last month, forcing Congress into a last-minute scramble to avoid a government shutdown.

According to The Hill, Bacon didn’t hold back on his criticism, saying in an interview with NewsNation, “What he said was not true.”

He went on to list several of Musk’s misleading claims: “So, for example, Elon Musk put out that we were gonna give ourselves a $66,000 pay raise. That was not true. That we’re protecting Liz Cheney. That was not true. That we were gonna build a new football stadium in Washington, D.C. That was not true. So, a lot of things he said [were] not true.”

The contention started when Congress released a bipartisan funding package, and Musk quickly jumped on his platform X (formerly Twitter), attacking the deal. He went on a posting spree, calling the bill a “big piece of pork” and spreading false rumors about its contents. Among his wild claims were that lawmakers would get a 40% pay raise, that the bill would block investigations into the January 6 Capitol attack, and that it would fund a new football stadium in D.C.

In reality, the bill didn’t include any of those things. While the bill would’ve allowed a small pay raise for lawmakers—about 3.8% for January, the first increase since 2009—it certainly wasn’t the huge raise Musk suggested. And there was no mention of the January 6 committee or anything related to blocking its investigation, despite Musk’s claims.

As for the football stadium? The bill did include a provision to transfer control of the RFK stadium site to Washington, D.C., but there was no money for a new stadium like Musk implied.

Thanks to Musk’s misleading posts, the original funding deal was delayed, and Congress had to rush to pass a new one just hours before the shutdown deadline.