As President Donald Trump tried to keep the Republicans of the home in line on a constant resolution to keep the government open throughout the fall, Elon Musk expressed a desire for a government’s downtime, four sources familiar with his position, Wired says.

Sources also told Wired that Musk wants a government’s downtime – a goal that is contrary to the declared desire of the White House to avoid one – partly because it might be easier to eliminate the work of hundreds of thousands of federal workers, which essentially reaches a permanent strike. The sources, which granted Wired anonymity, specifically asked to be generically described because information on Musk’s support for a standstill is kept carefully.

“A closure was his preference,” says one Republican who is familiar with the situation, referring to Musk. “I think he was pushed by the president there. I think it will be very difficult for him to get it right. “

A second Republican who heard of Musk’s desire for a government closure, Wired says that the billionaire’s goal is for the continued resolution – a expenses that the government has to temporarily finance – to tank, if only to bring about a short stop.

“You know that none of this is going to save money?” Say a third Republican familiar with the behind-the-scenes boot of Musk. “It’s all about the destruction of a liberal power base.”

Musk and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The possible shutdown is because Musk’s so -called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) has cut its way through the government, which eliminated the positions of an estimated tens of thousands of workers. If a government’s closure occurs, many federal agencies and programs would be essentially on ice. Agencies such as the FBI and others with law enforcement and security functions will largely continue to work as normal – because some government workers are only paid after the end of the closure – and critical functions such as the issuing of social security checks would not be directly affected. However, each department has a closing plan, and most will be affected.

Before a closure, federal employees are effectively classified in essential or non -essential work, with non -essential employees filled and not allowed to work before closing ends. According to the federal agency evidence plans compiled in public service in 2023, the pool of workers who would be subject to a federal shutdown, and were counted about 850,000, with approximately 410,000 of those outside the Department of Defense.

Federal staff costs, including military spending, amount to approximately $ 340 billion annually, and even the third or so of federal workers who are considered non -essential may save about $ 110 billion a year – a fraction of the annual federal expenditure of $ 1 billion claimed to eliminate.

Musk talked about the removal of so-called non-essential workers-of which many critical tasks such as inspecting food, processing benefits programs and collecting weather data before. “If the job is not necessary, whether they are not doing well, they should not be on the public payroll, of course,” Musk told reporters at the end of February, according to the New Yorker.