Musk calls for killing House's ‘big, beautiful bill'
Elon Musk on Wednesday called for killing the House's 'big, beautiful bill' and for a new spending bill to be drafted after he threw a wrench into GOP leadership's plans to pass President Trump's bill of legislative priorities by July 4.
'A new spending bill should be drafted that doesn't massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS,' Musk said on his social platform X.
He later added on X, 'Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.'
Musk, who was at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), called the legislation passed by the House 'pork-filled' and a 'disgusting abomination' on Tuesday. His stinging criticism doubled down on his previous comments that the bill undermines the cost-cutting efforts of DOGE.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Wednesday that there isn't time for a new bill in response to Musk's comments.
'I want Elon and all my friends to recognize the complexity of what we've accomplished here. This extraordinary piece of legislation, record number of savings, record tax cuts for the American people and all the other benefits in it. We worked on the bill for almost 14 months. You can't go back to the drawing board, and we shouldn't,' Johnson said.
'We have a great product to deliver here. So I know it doesn't … it's not perfect by some peoples' estimations. But you cannot make perfect the enemy of the very, very, very good. …So I'll continue to try to reach Elon and tell him, extol the merits of our work here. I hope he'll understand it.'
Musk's criticism gave political cover to the fiscal hawks in the Senate who were already critical of the legislation, including GOP Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Rand Paul (Ky.).
Paul said Tuesday on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' that if four conservatives band together, they could force Senate GOP leaders to agree to bigger spending cuts and possibly 'separate out' language to raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.
Similarly, Lee called for the Senate to 'make this bill better.'
The group wants to see deeper spending cuts while other Republicans, like Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Jerry Moran (Kan.), are worried that House language to cut Medicaid spending will hurt their constituents.
Meanwhile, the White House has brushed off Musk bashing the bill and said his criticism 'doesn't change the president's opinion.'
Speaker Johnson earlier Wednesday said Trump is 'not delighted' with Musk's position on the bill and that 'Elon did a 180 on that.'
Trump is 'deeply involved' with 'personally advocating' for the bill, and there will be additional meetings going forward between the administration and lawmakers to get it passed, a White House official told The Hill.
Trump held a press conference with Musk in the Oval Office on Friday to mark his exit from the White House team and to thank the Tesla CEO for his work to overhaul the federal government.
Mychael Schnell contributed.
Updated at 4:26 p.m. EDT
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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