Annie Comes Home: Tell the Senate: No more taxpayer giveaways to Elon Musk

Monday, April 28, 2025

Tell the Senate: No more taxpayer giveaways to Elon Musk

This is basic ethics.

Pamela: After gutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and more, Elon Musk is now positioning his companies to fill the very gaps he’s created.[1]

This corrupt self-dealing is only possible because of gaping loopholes in our ethics law, and unless we act now to close them, the damage could last for years. Musk isn’t backing down. While he may be stepping back from DOGE to focus more on Tesla, he’s also planning to stay embedded in government — until 2029.[2]

The good news? A groundbreaking new bill from Senator Jeanne Shaheen would BLOCK special government employees (SGEs) like Musk from receiving federal contracts.

It’s basic ethics. S.1365 is a long overdue step toward strengthening public trust and accountability. By urging your senators to support it, you’re helping ensure government work is done in the public interest — NOT in the service of billionaire kleptocrats.

We can’t promise that we can stop Musk’s hostile takeover of our government fast enough to avoid more harm. What can we guarantee? Nothing will change if organizations like ours, and people like you, sit on the sidelines. Join us:

Let’s send Capitol Hill a crucial message and slam the door on Musk’s corruption and self-dealing. Tell the Senate to cosponsor and pass S.1365, and end federal contracts to SGEs.

ACT NOW

Families across the country struggle to make ends meet, but you know who’s not sweating, Pamela? Weapons contractors, whose stock is skyrocketing following Trump’s push for a $1 TRILLION Pentagon budget.

Unfortunately, that also includes SGEs like Musk who can serve inside federal agencies while maintaining major stakes in the private companies that benefit from billion-dollar Pentagon contracts. SGEs are supposed to serve the country, not exploit it for private gain. Yet with no law stopping them, they can write policy with one hand and sign contracts with the other.

That’s how Musk can sabotage public services and undermine our democracy while reaping billions in federal funding for SpaceX, Starlink, and Tesla.

S.1365 is a gamechanger that can stop billionaires from moonlighting as government employees while enriching themselves with taxpayer dollars.

This kind of firewall already exists for members of Congress. Here’s how it works: S.1365 would use the Securities and Exchange Commission’s definition of company ownership: If an SGE owns 5% or more of a company, that company would be ineligible to contract with or receive payment from the federal government. When the SGE steps away from their government role, the ban is lifted, plain and simple.[2]

Our job is to keep up the pressure on lawmakers to hold this White House and any bad actors accountable. So let’s give SGEs a choice: You can serve the public or serve your wallet — but not both.

Pamela, our voices matter. This is the kind of ethics reform we should have had years ago, but bills like this won’t become law without sustained pressure and activism from people like us. S.1365 needs cosponsors now. It needs your voice today.

The trillions we’ve spent on weapons systems over the past decade could have supported curing cancer, confronting the climate crisis, or ending homelessness, but they didn’t.

What that money did do is help make a few people like Elon Musk incredibly rich. U.S. tax dollars helped pay for Musk’s SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield satellites. He’s turned those profits into enormous political and social power — and right now, he’s using that influence 24/7 to tear our democracy apart.

Take a moment to pause and imagine what the world would look like if our government stopped plowing billions toward weapons and war contractors and instead prioritized people’s needs and built true security.

That vision can become a reality if we work together today and always. Pamela, let’s keep pushing.

Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team

1. The Guardian, “Doge cuts allow Musk to cash in with SpaceX and Starlink contracts, ex-workers warn”
2. CNN, “Elon Musk’s government role gets even murkier”
3. Press Release, “Shaheen Unveils New Legislation Prohibiting Special Government Employees' Companies from Receiving Federal Contracts or Grant Payments”