The government may shut down at midnight tonight, all thanks to Elon Musk. 

In case you missed it, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress spent weeks negotiating a deal that would have funded the government until March 14 and replenished disaster assistance. They announced that agreement on Tuesday, fully expecting an easy, bipartisan vote to avoid a shutdown. But Elon Musk got involved, shooting off dozens of tweets criticizing the deal and threatening retaliation against any Republican who voted for it. 

That’s right. Musk – who has not been elected to any office – is apparently calling the shots and Trump and House Republicans are just falling in line, withdrawing their support for the deal and replacing it with a hyperpartisan bill that cut funding for things like nutrition benefits and cancer research and tossed in a debt ceiling increase to clear the way for Trump’s tax cuts for the ultra-rich. 

And with the Republican caucus in such chaos that they can’t pass this deal with their own House majority, they’re threatening to shut down the government unless Democrats give in and bail them out. 

But Democrats aren’t beholden to unelected MAGA billionaire Elon Musk. They’ve got to hold the line and continue to back the bipartisan deal they originally agreed to. And it’s up to us to make sure they don’t cave to Musk’s demands. 

Fill out this form right now to email your Democratic representative. Tell them that you expect them to stay strong and not just give their votes away to reward these Republican antics. Let them know that they should only lend support for a government funding bill that reflects Democratic values. 

The email to your Democratic representative