‘Kill the bill': Musk continues broadsides against the Republican megabill
Elon Musk is still trying to rally Republicans against the 'big beautiful bill' that he spent most of Tuesday bashing and which caused an uproar among GOP lawmakers.
'Call you Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok!' Musk wrote on X on Wednesday. 'KILL the BILL.'
The effort from Musk against the megabill marks an escalation of the biggest rift yet between Musk and the White House, which he departed from just last week as his role as special adviser came to an anticlimactic close. It's also the most public break between the tech mogul and President Donald Trump, who has called the bill 'arguably the most significant piece of Legislation that will ever be signed in the History of our Country.'
The White House was 'perplexed, unenthused, and disappointed' by Musk's bashing of the bill, a senior official told POLITICO on Tuesday. Allies of the Trump administration argue that Musk's criticism — and his less-than-veiled threat of retaliation — is tied to his business interests with car company Tesla, which will take a hit after the bill axes tax credits for electric vehicles.
But Musk received more evidence to help hammer home his larger point about the bill increasing spending: the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday that the megabill could add over two trillion dollars to the federal deficit over the next decade.
'A new spending bill should be drafted that doesn't massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS,' Musk wrote on X on Wednesday.
Republican congressional leadership has been pushing back against Musk's missives, after the billionaire's comments came up at a closed-door meeting early Wednesday. Speaker Mike Johnson said that he has tried to call Musk, and said following the House GOP conference meeting that they can't 'go back to the drawing board.'
'We don't have time for a brand new bill,' he said. 'And I want Elon and all my friends to recognize the complexity of what we're doing.'
But other Republicans, including some deficit hawks, are aligning themselves with Musk, with the SpaceX founder reposting comments from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rep. Scott Perry (R-Penn.) and Rep. John Rose (R-Tenn.) about Congress' 'wasteful spending.'
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
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