Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) recently went on a tirade against congressional Republicans on the House floor over disagreements on a spending bill last month as the prospect of a government shutdown loomed. DeLauro, known for her eccentric appearance and purple hair, called out her colleagues, suggesting multi-billionaire Republican Elon Musk had an outsized influence on their political decisions.
As background, Musk led an initiative in December to thwart a government spending bill that both parties had agreed on, to prevent a shutdown. The Tesla founder opposed content in the bill such as State Department funding that he described as a “censorship operation.” More broadly, Musk is seeking to cut significant government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.). “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk previously said.
Addressing Musk’s activism, DeLauro pointed out that she and her colleagues had “agreed on a bill.” She added, “You know what? They got scared because President Musk told them. President Musk said, Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Shut the government down,” she said, taking a dig a Musk’s supposed political influence over the House.
Continuing to criticize Musk, the representative said, “Imagine, what does he know about what people go through is when the government shuts down, are his employees furloughed? Hell no. Is he furloughed? No. And when you shut the government down, people don’t get paid, and maybe if none of us got paid, if the government shut down, some people on the other side of the aisle would feel differently about where we’re going in this effort.”
However, DeLauro lamented that disagreements on spending bills have been par for the course in recent years. “We had an agreement, but you know, this is not this is not different from what we’ve experienced over the last year and a half or so, think about it. Biden McCarthy deal, come together, next day, walk away,” she said on the House floor.
Citing another example, she said, “Johnson Schumer deal, next day, walk away. And now this deal, walk away from it. Who do we trust in this body? And above all, can the American people trust us, trust us with their lives? When we had a moment when we came to agreement as Democrats and Republicans, and then we were able to say, let’s move forward this country.”
DeLauro’s speech subsequently drew critical reactions from conservative circles. Given that he was the topic of discussion, Musk wrote on X, “This awful creature needs to be expelled from Congress! Ugh …”. Conservative commentator Nick Sortor addressed DeLauro’s rant, writing, “Purple haired Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro is going on an unhinged tirade about “President Musk” again 🤣 These leftists are not serious people.”
"*" indicates required fields
Watch DeLauro’s comments on the House floor below:
Conservative watchdog MJTruthUltra also reacted to DeLauro’s criticism of Musk, echoing the widespread backlash to her remarks. “She says the first CR Bill was “Bipartisan” and President Elon Musk just ruined everything… lol I hate that word ‘bipartisan’, because it’s disguised to signal that everyone agrees… when it’s really only the uniparty that agrees. But you know what? AMERICANS DONT AGREE. Stop spending our money on dumb sh*t,” the account wrote.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.