When Elon Musk helped tank a 1,500-page budget bill last week by leading the charge against it on social media, he also derailed legislation that was meant to prevent U.S. companies from helping China win the technology race against America — the result of several months of painstaking negotiations. Now, supporters of that effort will have to start from scratch, with a new Congress and an unpredictable new president.

The China legislation was not among the provisions of the larger budget bill that Musk called “criminal” or “insane,” such as pay raises for Congress. The Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act of 2024, as the legislation was known, would have authorized the president to impose restrictions on U.S. investment in Chinese companies in key technological sectors including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, nuclear facilities, weapons and mass surveillance. If U.S. companies are allowed to continue funding China’s technological and military modernization, China will be able to exploit American innovations and dominate the industries those technologies create.

The leaders of both parties in both chambers had signed off on the China legislation, which was a personal priority of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).

Democrats allege Musk was doing a favor for Chinese President Xi Jinping. “This is particularly concerning given Elon Musk’s extensive investments in China in key sectors and his personal ties with Chinese Communist Party leadership,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (New York), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, wrote in a letter. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) alleged on X this is why Musk opposed the bill in the first place. Musk responded by calling DeLauro an “awful creature” and saying she should be expelled from Congress.

It’s certainly true Musk has extensive business interests in China and has sometimes echoed Chinese government talking points on issues such as Taiwan. But talking to several congressional aides involved in the scramble over the bill last week, I found no evidence this particular provision was singled out by Musk. The China legislation simply fell victim to the slash-and-burn style Musk applied — a casualty of his larger war on the government.

The legislation would also have required U.S. companies to report to the U.S. government when they invest in sensitive technologies in China. President Joe Biden already signed an executive order last year authorizing some of these restrictions, but absent congressional action, implementation has been slow. Wall Street firms have lobbied against such rules for years. Inside Congress, an effort to water down the legislation was led by Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick T. McHenry (R-North Carolina), who is retiring from Congress this year.

Despite this opposition, Johnson made the legislation a priority and heavily supported including it in the original budget bill. The final version was a compromise between national security hawks and Wall Street-friendly legislators that took months of negotiation. Now the entire effort will have to be restarted — and nothing can happen until Donald Trump weighs in.

“Why aren’t congressional Republicans confident they can just do it next year?” asked Derek Scissors, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “No one has said, ‘Let’s just do it in January.’ … The big problem is not Musk, it’s Trump.”

In Trump’s first term, his administration often took hawkish positions on trade and tariffs with China. But on the issue of U.S. investment in China, Trump often followed the advice of his billionaire friends. In fact, U.S. investment in Chinese technology companies ballooned beginning in 2017, Scissors said.

Some inside the incoming Trump administration are attuned to the danger of U.S. investment in sensitive technologies in China, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida), Trump’s pick for secretary of state. But the enforcement authority lies at the Treasury Department, and Trump’s choice for that position, Scott Bessent, is seen as more friendly to the financial industry, which is resisting these moves. Where Trump will come down is anyone’s guess.

The incoming administration should quickly ramp up implementation of the Biden administration’s existing executive order and Johnson should move the legislation again through Congress as soon as possible. The argument to skeptics should be straightforward: Why wouldn’t we want transparency on how U.S. companies are helping China’s technology industry? And why would anyone in the United States want to transfer the most sensitive technologies to America’s greatest adversary?

In a perfect world, legislation on competing technologically with China would have stood on its own and not have been shoved into a last-minute spending measure. But it’s still an important issue that needs to be addressed. China’s strategy to surpass us could very well succeed if we fail to act.