Elon Musk says he's "disappointed" by Trump's "big, beautiful bill" and what it means for DOGE
Elon Musk says he is "disappointed" by the price tag on the domestic policy bill passed by Republicans in the House last week and heavily backed by President Trump, the billionaire who recently stepped back from running the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, told "CBS Sunday Morning" in an exclusive broadcast 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," Musk said.
Musk's comments appear to put him at odds with Mr. Trump, who has championed the massive spending package. The legislation — which still needs to pass the Senate — would extend Mr. Trump's signature 2017 tax cuts, boost border security spending, impose work requirements on Medicaid and roll back clean energy tax credits.
The tax provisions of the package, titled the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" after Mr. Trump's name for the bill, would increase the deficit by $3.8 trillion by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
"I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful," Musk told CBS News, "but I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion."
Musk was a near-constant presence in the early months of the Trump administration, with his DOGE staffers sweeping through virtually every government agency to make widespread cuts — drawing concern from Democrats and even some Trump allies, as well as numerous legal challenges. Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has said he will dial back his involvement in government.
See more of the interview with Elon Musk on "CBS Sunday Morning" on June 1.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
25 minutes ago
- Forbes
U.S. Ski Resorts Had Second-Best Season On Record In 2024–25
As the ski industry faces issues ranging from corporate consolidation to increasingly unpredictable snowfall, there is some good news to end the 2024–25 season. According to preliminary data from the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), U.S. ski areas saw the second-highest visitation on record this past season, with a total of 61.5 million skier visits. That marks a a 1.7% increase over the previous season. And the number of skier visits for the 2024–25 season will continue to climb as several resorts have extended their seasons. The highest visitation totals on record, 65.4 million in the 2022–23 season, were the result of a post-Covid surge, but this number is considered an outlier across the travel and recreation industries. The visitation total is one data point in an overall positive trend for the industry. Globally, ski resorts saw more than 366 million skier visits last season. The average for worldwide skier visits is higher after Covid-19 than in the years before 2020, per the International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism. In 2023–24, Italy and Chile marked their best-ever ski seasons. Domestically, the NSAA set a goal several years ago of reaching a three-year rolling average of 60 million skier visits at U.S. resorts. The industry has surpassed that figure for four consecutive seasons. The number of ski areas operating in the U.S. also rose from 484 last season to 492 this season. The NSAA groups U.S. ski resorts into six regions: the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain, Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. In particular, small- and medium-sized ski areas saw increased visits, and the Pacific Northwest enjoyed a a record-setting year, with 4.7 million skier visits, a 10.9% increase over the previous year. After a decline in visits in 2023–24 due to unseasonably warm weather, the Midwest enjoyed a 21.8% increase in skier visits in 2024–25. Visits in the Rocky Mountain region, which accounted for 42.9% of all national visits in 2024-25, were the third-most out of 47 recorded seasons. While snowfall averages were down slightly (6.9% year-over-year) in the Rocky Mountain, Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest regions, the Southeast and Midwest regions saw above-average snow totals. The Northeast met its average. 'While weather will always be unpredictable, this year was less volatile overall, and nearly every region saw solid snowfall,' said NSAA president and CEO Michael Reitzell. Capital investment by U.S. ski areas (based on reported investment from 135 responding areas) totaled $624.4 million, the majority of which went to lift infrastructure. Nationwide, 97 new and upgraded lifts were installed. Surveyed ski areas reported plans for 47 new lifts and 70 lift upgrades in 2025–26. Season pass holders made up nearly half (49%) of all visits nationally this season, with 32% of visits coming from day lift tickets. The remaining visits are composed of factors such as frequency products, off-duty employees and complimentary products. 'The 2024–25 season may come to represent a new baseline for the industry. Even if 'normal' continues to evolve, this season gives us a strong point of reference for what steady, healthy growth looks like,' Reitzell added.
Forbes
25 minutes ago
- Forbes
How To Score $30 Summer Concert Tickets From Live Nation (While You Still Can)
Want to catch a show this summer without emptying your bank account? There's a sale for that. Earlier this month, concert promotion giant Live Nation rolled out its annual summer ticket discount, offering $30 seats to shows in amphitheaters coast-to-coast. Called 'Ticket To Summer,' the sale launched May 21. At publication time, participating artists included Willie Nelson, Coheed and Cambria, Nelly, The Doobie Brothers, Keith Urban, The Offspring, Kesha and more. How does it work? Unlike past years – when Live Nation ran a 'Concert Week' special that offered discounted tickets for a seven-day period – the Ticket To Summer deal continues throughout the season on a first-come, first-serve basis. But act fast, because the company only offers a select number of $30 tickets to participating shows in each city. Discounted concerts plan to be updated throughout the summer, according to USA Today. Live Nation hopes to run the discount on more than 1,000 concerts this year. The $30 ticket price includes all fees except local taxes. Show-goers can find $30 tickets at nearby venues by visiting Availability varies depending on location. Additional artists participating in the $30 special include Cody Jinks, Rob Thomas, Allison Krauss and Tedeschi Trucks Band.
Associated Press
25 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Bloodhounds hunting 'Devil in the Ozarks' fugitive are seen as key part of manhunt
A bloodhound picked up the scent shortly after the ' Devil in the Ozarks ' escaped from a lockup in northern Arkansas. The hound didn't have to go far to begin the hunt — it lives at the prison as part of a specialized unit that uses man's best friend to help track fugitives. Although the scent of convicted killer Grant Hardin was lost because of heavy rain, experts say that even days after Sunday's escape, the animal's highly developed sense of small can still pick up a fresh trail. Bloodhounds are known for being tenacious trackers, said Brian Tierney, president of the National Police Bloodhound Association. They're playing a key role in the search for Hardin, now in its sixth day. They also save lives, as one young bloodhound did just two weeks ago in Maine. Millie, a 10-month-old hound tracked a 5-year-old girl with autism who went missing from her home on May 16, Maine State Police said. The dog found the girl waist-deep in water in a cedar swamp, the agency said. Authorities credited Millie's dedication and 'incredible nose' for saving the girl. Heavy ra in interrupted the search for Hardin Bad weather confounded the hunt for Hardin, who was serving a 30-year sentence for murder when he escaped from the North Central Unit, a medium-security prison in Calico Rock, Arkansas. The hound found - then lost - Hardin's scent when heavy rains blew through the area, said state prison spokesman Rand Champion. Hardin was tracked for less than a quarter of a mile when the bloodhound lost the trail. The fugitive could have gone in any direction after that. 'That was one of the most frustrating things, that they were able to track him but then they lost him because of the rain,' Champion said. Hardin took almost nothing with him and left behind plenty of clothes, bedsheets and other items that are used to familiarize the bloodhounds with his scent, Champion said. Those items are shared with the dogs to give them the initial scent of the person they are seeking, Tierney said. It's a process that's standard operating procedure for Arkansas' prison dogs. Who is Grant Hardin? A former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, Hardin had been held at the Calico Rock prison since 2017 after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in a fatal shooting for which he was serving a 30-year sentence. Hardin's DNA was matched to the 1997 rape of a teacher at an elementary school in Rogers, north of Fayetteville. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for that crime. Eventually, his notoriety led to a TV documentary, 'Devil in the Ozarks.' Champion said that someone should have checked Hardin's identity before he was allowed to leave, describing the lack of verification as a 'lapse' that is being investigated. Bloodhounds live at Calico Rock prison Authorities haven't disclosed how many dogs are involved in the manhunt, but the Calico Rock prison is known for its bloodhounds that live in a kennel on prison property. The nearly one dozen dogs at the prison have helped many other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to track a variety of people over the years, according to a 2021 state audit report on the prison. Southern prisons have a long history of keeping bloodhounds around in case of escapes, like the one featured in country artist Blake Shelton's song 'Ol' Red,' about a hound that hunts escaped inmates with 'a nose that could smell a two-day trail.' Dogs in Arkansas' prison system have also been used to help other agencies find people who are not dangerous, such as missing children, people with special needs or elderly people, Champion said. The bloodhounds tend to raise a ruckus when they find their mark. But the prison system uses other types of dogs in searching for children and vulnerable people who go missing, and those dogs tend to lick people and make friends with them when they are found, Champion said. Fugitives use spices, other means to foil bloodhounds Fugitives being hunted by bloodhounds have been known to take extreme steps to throw the dogs off their trail, Tierney said. Two convicted killers who broke out of a maximum-security prison in upstate New York in 2015 collected dozens of containers of black and cayenne pepper before their escape. They had intended to use the pepper 'to interfere with tracking dogs they assumed would be part of a manhunt for them after the escape,' a state investigation found. One of the men was shot and killed during the manhunt; another was also shot but survived and was captured. Tierney said he's heard of other methods used by fugitives to evade tracking dogs. Among them: Sleeping in trees could allow one's scent to disperse before reaching the ground, he said. Hardin has troubled past in law enforcement In his first job as a police officer 35 years ago in the college town of Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas, Hardin struggled almost immediately, his supervisors said. 'Other recruits do not like Grant,' one wrote in a performance review. After a few months on the job, most shift supervisors concluded that he was 'not suited for police work,' Fayetteville's police chief at the time wrote to the director of the state commission on enforcement standards in the spring of 1991. But after being dismissed by Fayetteville police, he kept getting hired for other law enforcement jobs in northwest Arkansas. In documents and interviews, other police leaders echoed what Fayetteville's police chief had said — that Grant should not have become a police officer. By the time he was the police chief in the small town of Gateway in 2016, 'he was out chasing cars for no reason,' Cheryl Tillman, the town's current mayor, recalled in the documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks.' He's also been described by those who know him as a smart and cunning person who has learned many police tactics over the years and knows how law officers hunt fugitives. 'That individual probably watched the extended forecast before he went out,' Tierney said. 'He would know that heavy rain is going to hinder the dogs.' ___ Associated Press Writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
