Eyes on Senate Republicans as Trump and Musk feud over tax and spend bill

Yahoo

a day ago

As the simmering tensions between Donald Trump and his once top adviser, the billionaire Elon Musk, erupted into public view on Thursday, eyes turned to the Republican lawmakers still weighing whether to pass the president's so-called 'big, beautiful bill'.
It was approved by just a single vote in the House of Representatives with no Democratic support last month, and nonpartisan analysts have found the sweeping legislation could add a whopping $2.4tn-$5tn to the $36.2tn US national debt and make deep cuts to Medicaid and food-assistance programs. Seen as an outline of Trump's 'America first' agenda, the bill would also extend tax cuts, fund beefed-up immigration enforcement and impose new work requirements for enrollees of federal safety net programs.
In a barrage of tweets over its cost, which Musk warned would undo Doge's efforts to save the government money by cancelling programs and pushing federal workers out of their jobs, the billionaire called on conservatives to withdraw their support for the bill.
Along with personal barbs aimed at Trump – including trumpeting support for his impeachment and signaling the president's ties to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – Musk spent Thursday afternoon re-posting years-old quotes from the House speaker Mike Johnson and the Senate leader John Thune, when the Republican lawmakers spoke critically of federal debt.
Musk's intense withdrawal of support for the administration has magnified a rift in the Republican party that was already threatening the bill's passage in the Senate.
While the Senate's Republican leaders have shown no indication that they share Musk's concerns, they are eyeing changes to some aspects of the measure that were the result of hard-fought negotiations in the House, and could throw its prospects into jeopardy.
One issue that has reappeared is the deductibility of state and local tax (Salt) payments, which the tax bill passed under Trump in 2017 limited to $10,000 per household. House Republicans representing districts in Democratic-run states that have higher tax burdens managed to get a provision increasing the deduction to $40,000 into the One, Big Beautiful Bill act.
But there are almost no Republican senators representing blue states. After meeting with Trump on Wednesday, Thune indicated his lawmakers were not inclined to keep that provision as they negotiate the bill.
'We also start from a position that there really isn't a single Republican senator who cares much about the Salt issue,' he said. 'It's just not an issue that plays.'
Related: Trump's tax bill helps the rich, hurts the poor and adds trillions to the deficit | Katrina vanden Heuvel
That could upset the balance of power in the House, where Republicans can lose no more than three votes on any bill that passes along party lines.
Johnson spent weeks negotiating with his fractious Republican majority to get the bill passed narrowly through his chamber, and on Wednesday said he had been trying to speak with Musk about his concerns. In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Thursday, he called the Tesla CEO 'a good friend' and said the two had exchanged text messages ahead of a call he expected to take place that morning.
'I just want to make sure that he understands what I think everybody on Capitol Hill understands. This is not a spending bill, my friends, this is a budget reconciliation bill. And what we're doing here is delivering the 'America first' agenda,' Johnson said.
'He seems pretty dug in right now, and I can't quite understand the motivation behind it,' the speaker added.
Later in the day, Johnson told reporters at the Capitol that the call did not take place, but that the disagreement 'isn't personal'. On X, Musk publicly questioned Johnson's resolve to cut government spending, prompting the speaker to reply that he 'has always been a lifelong fiscal hawk'.
While the Tesla CEO has focused his complaints on the price tag of the bill, Trump accused him of turning against it because of provisions revoking incentives for consumers to purchase electric vehicles.
The president began by saying he was 'very disappointed' by the former adviser's opposition to his top legislative priority, but the online insults escalated after Musk fired back that Trump would not have won election without his financial support.
'I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot,' Trump said, adding that 'he knew every aspect of this bill. He knew it better than almost anybody, and he never had a problem until right after he left.'
'Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will any more,' the president said.
The falling-out came days after Musk had stepped down as head of Trump's 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) and then pivoted to attacking the One Big, Beautiful Bill.
Musk responded almost immediately on X, saying that the president's comment was 'false', and 'this bill was never shown to me even once'. He then pivoted to personal attacks on Trump, after praising him just days earlier in an Oval Office appearance to mark the end of his time leading Doge.
'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' he said, responding to a video of Trump's remarks. 'Such ingratitude.'
Gabrielle Canon contributed reporting