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Elon Musk walks through the Capitol on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican-elect John Thune (R-SD) in Washington, U.S., on December 5, 2024.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters
House Democrats Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut say their Republican colleagues in Congress gave in to demands from Elon Musksinking a bipartisan government funding bill that would have regulated U.S. investments in China.
Congress approved a separate interim funding bill over the weekend, avoiding a government shutdown.
in a series of publications In X, McGovern said more could have been achieved. The deleted provision “would have made it easier to keep cutting-edge technology in artificial intelligence and quantum computing, as well as jobs, in the United States,” he wrote. “But Elon had a problem.”
teslaLed by Musk, it is the only foreign automaker to operate a factory in China without a local joint venture. Tesla also built a battery plant near its Shanghai auto factory this year and aims to develop and sell autonomous vehicle technology in China.
“His bottom line depends on staying in China’s favor,” McGovern wrote of Musk. “He also wants to build an artificial intelligence data center there, which could endanger US security. He has been doing everything he can to curry favor with Chinese leaders.”
SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace and defense contractor, has supposedly held its Starlink satellite internet service in Taiwan at the request of Chinese and Russian leaders. Taiwan is a self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its territory. The status of Taiwan is one of the biggest sticking points in US-China relations.
DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, wrote in a letter to Congress on Friday that Musk needs “Chinese government approvals for his company’s projects in the country.” It’s worrying that Musk “has ingratiated himself into the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” he wrote.
In the letter, DeLauro referred to Tesla and SpaceX CEO as “President” Musk, alluding to the fact that the world’s richest person began criticizing the previous funding bill on Wednesday, before the president elect donald trump He came out with a statement of his own.
Trump wanted the GOP to sink the bill and issue a new one raising the debt ceiling so he could avoid that fight during the start of his second term. The interim financing bill, which president joe biden signed on Saturday, did not include the two-year suspension of the US debt limit that Trump sought.
Musk responded to DeLauro’s concerns by calling her “horrible creature” in a post on X.
After acquiring Twitter in 2022, Musk renamed it X and used it to help propel Trump back to the White House, becoming a close adviser and major backer of the incoming president along the way.
Musk contributed $277 million to Trump’s campaign and other Republican causes during the 2024 cycle, according to Federal Election Commission documents. Since the November election, Musk has become a near-constant presence at Trump’s side, even in meetings with foreign leaders.
Trump appointed Musk to co-lead a group that has not yet been formed but will be tasked with finding ways to cut regulations, staff and budgets.
