"A second Republican who had heard about Musk’s desire for a government shutdown tells WIRED that the billionaire’s goal is for the continuing resolution—a spending bill to temporarily fund the government—to tank, if only to achieve a brief government shutdown.
“You know none of this is about saving money, right?” says a third Republican familiar with the behind-the-scenes push from Musk. “It’s all about destroying a liberal power base.”
Musk and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The possible shutdown looms as Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has slashed its way through the government, eliminating the positions of an estimated tens of thousands of workers. If a government shutdown occurs, many federal agencies and programs would be essentially put on ice. Agencies like the FBI and others with law enforcement and security functions would largely continue to operate as normal—albeit with some government workers not being paid until after the end of the shutdown—and critical functions like the issuance of Social Security checks would not be directly affected. Every department has a shutdown plan, though, and most would be impacted.
Ahead of a shutdown, federal employees are effectively classified into essential or nonessential work, with nonessential employees furloughed and not allowed to work until the shutdown ends. According to federal agency contingency plans compiled by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service in 2023, when a federal shutdown was narrowly averted, the pool of workers who would be subject to being furloughed then numbered about 850,000, with about 410,000 of those being outside the Department of Defense."
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-has-wanted-the-government-shut-down/