Top budget Democrat: GOP spending bill hands ‘a blank check to Elon Musk’

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, slammed the new House Republicans’ six-month stopgap funding bill, claiming it is a “blank check” for tech billionaire and close President Trump adviser Elon Musk.

“I strongly oppose this full-year continuing resolution, which is a power grab for the White House and further allows unchecked billionaire Elon Musk and President Trump to steal from the American people,” DeLauro said in a statement on Saturday, shortly after the text of the continuing resolution (CR) was published.

“By essentially closing the book on negotiations for full-year funding bills that help the middle class and protect our national security, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have handed their power to an unelected billionaire,” the Connecticut Democrat added.

The 99-page stopgap legislation to avert a Friday midnight shutdown deadline would increase defense spending while decreasing funds for nondefense programs.

Defense spending would go up around $6 billion over the 2024 fiscal year levels, House Republicans said. Additionally, funding for veterans’ healthcare and housing would increase, along with funds for the WIC program. Non-defense programs would see a roughly $13 billion drop in funding if the current version of the CR is adopted.

DeLauro, who earlier this week told reporters on Capitol Hill that a one-year CR is a nonstarter,” accused Trump and Musk, who helms six major companies, of “stealing” from middle-class Americans, veterans, seniors, small business and farmers in order to supply major corporations and billionaires with tax breaks.

The House Democrat pointed on Saturday to the administration’s effort to slash government spending, gut the federal workforce, push to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and forthcoming plans, confirmed Wednesday by Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins, to terminate around 72,000 jobs at the department.

“They have made it harder for Americans to get their Social Security benefits; shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has saved American families $21 billion; fired 6,000 veterans and reportedly plan to make it harder for veterans to access benefits by firing an additional 80,000 VA employees,” DeLauro said.

The top budget House Democrat also referenced the firing of hundreds of workers tasked with overseeing the country’s nuclear weapons. The administration has subsequently pushed to rehire the employees after significant backlash.

DeLauro concluded that House Republicans are handing a “blank check to Elon Musk," who has taken a leading role in efforts to slash government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

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