Tesla shareholders originally backed the Elon Musk compensation plan in March 2018
AFP

Sen. Rand Paul is suggesting that Congress elect Elon Musk as House Speaker.

The Kentucky Republican floated the idea in an X post on Thursday morning.

"The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . ." Paul said.

"Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing's impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka 'uniparty,' lose their ever-lovin' minds)."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene later replied to Paul's suggestion by saying she would "be open to supporting" Musk for the House Speaker position.

"DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency," Greene replied on X.

The suggestion comes after Elon Musk publicly came out against current House Speaker Mike Johnson's "continuing resolution" (CR) to keep the government funded through March.

If lawmakers don't pass a plan by Friday, parts of the federal government will be forced to close starting on Saturday.

Hours later, President-elect Donald Trump urged Republican lawmakers to scrap the deal.

Suggesting that concessions to Democrats in the bill were "a betrayal of our country," Trump called in a joint statement with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance for Republicans to "GET SMART and TOUGH."

Johnson tried to defend the plan saying, "We still have just a razor-thin margin of Republicans so any bill has to have Democrat votes."

Musk has been a key Trump advisor since supporting him during the election. He has been named as a co-head of a so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in an effort to cut the federal budget and reduce spending. Congress actually controls the budget so Musk could have a bigger hand in controlling the purse strings.