‘Disappointed' Musk splits with Trump, says key tax bill undermines DOGE
Washington: Elon Musk has criticised Donald Trump's signature legislative manoeuvre to cut taxes and lift border security spending, saying it increases the budget deficit and undermines the work of his government efficiency team, DOGE.
Musk, a key Trump ally and until recently a constant presence in Trump's White House, also complained his Department of Government Efficiency became a 'whipping boy' for other problems in the administration.
The world's richest man has stepped back from Washington, and returned to the Texas base of his SpaceX venture this week for another rocket test flight, which made it into space but sprang a leak and broke up on re-entry.
Trump, meanwhile, is seeking Senate support for his so-called 'big, beautiful bill', which passed the House of Representatives last week. It raises the US debt ceiling by $US4 trillion, extends the tax cuts from Trump's first term that were due to expire at the end of the year, and eliminates tax from tips and overtime until the end of 2028 – a key election promise.
The additional spending wipes out savings made by DOGE, which says it has found savings of $US175 billion – although its 'wall of receipts' amounts to less than half of that figure.
Musk told television network CBS in an interview: 'I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.
'I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both,' he said in an excerpt. The full interview will air on the weekend.
In a separate interview with The Washington Post, Musk said the bureaucracy in Washington was worse than he realised and bemoaned the scrutiny DOGE came under as it made at-times sweeping cuts to federal agencies in the name of efficiency.
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