Miller Tweets Through His Feelings as Wife Leaves With Musk

Yahoo

2 days ago

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller continued to pump up the Trump administration's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' amid criticism from Elon Musk and others on the right.
Miller, who spent considerable time Tuesday defending 'the most essential piece of legislation... in generations,' didn't mention Musk by name in his new batch of posts. But the tech billionaire leaving DOGE and bringing Miller's wife, Katie, out the door with him has added another level of intrigue to the spat.
Miller began by disputing how the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the GOP's bill would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.
'One of the bigger points of confusion on the BBB is spending vs. tax cuts,' Miller wrote Wednesday morning.
'The lefty CBO says extending the 2017 tax cuts (preventing their expiration) increases the deficit. Some critics have seen this figure and claimed or implied the bill increases *spending.* Even according to CBO, the bill cuts spending over $1.6 trillion,' he continued.
'So when a libertarian (eg Rand [Paul]) attacks the 'deficit' impact of the bill, they are attacking the tax cut. Of course, honestly accounted, extending current tax rates has zero deficit impact which is why the bill, because of its spending cuts, reduces the deficit.'
In the same post calling the proposed legislation a 'dream bill,' Miller touted that it 'has not a single Democrat provision or vote.'
Despite Miller's view of the situation, fiscal conservatives are wary. After Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul voiced his displeasure over the cost, Trump attacked him. Wisconsin's Ron Johnson also spoke up, pledging to stop the bill even if the White House were to launch a pressure campaign against him. Johnson named two others in the Senate with a similar stance: Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah.
Yet Miller maintained that their concerns were off-base.
'The only spending change in the bill is a giant spending cut,' he wrote in response to Office of Management and Budget head Russ Vought accusing the CBO of using a 'big gimmick' in its calculations.
'The entire 'deficit' change per the lefty CBO was not expiring the Trump Tax Cut from 2017,' he added. 'Further, because it's a [party-line] reconciliation bill, no monies are appropriated in the bill to fund government.'
Miller also responded directly to Paul in a post later Wednesday after the Kentucky Republican said he was in favor of voting on the debt ceiling and the tax cuts separately.
Paul's 'sole objection is that he wants to force Republicans and President Trump to make a deal with Schumer to raise the debt ceiling that he can then vote against,' Miller argued.
'Of course, a deal with Schumer to raise the debt ceiling means a tax HIKE and a spending HIKE.'
'So, his sole demand, is to take a course of action that equals more spending and more taxing and still of course extends the borrowing limit.'
Fiscal conservatives in the Senate aren't the only obstacles to the bill, though. Republicans who have objected to the proposal's cuts to Medicaid include Josh Hawley of Missouri, Maine's Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Jerry Moran of Kansas, and Jim Justice of West Virginia.
The CBO estimates that the Republican bill would cause 10.3 million people to lose Medicaid coverage, the majority being residents of states Trump won in 2024.