Latest news with #overspending
Fox News
5 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
'KILL BILL': Elon Musk's conservative evolution puts him at odds with Trump on key legislation
Tech tycoon and former DOGE chief Elon Musk's political evolution has shifted to the right after he jumped into the election fray as a staunch ally of President Donald Trump on the campaign trail and ultimately as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk's conservative genesis on the public stage has put him at odds with the president as he rails against the One Big Beautiful Bill, which Trump has touted as legislation that would translate into big tax breaks for Americans across the pay brackets and subsequently called on Republican lawmakers to swiftly pass it. Musk, who is considered America's wealthiest resident, is publicly criticizing the sweeping legislation just days after his departure from DOGE and the federal government. The "big beautiful bill" is currently making its way through the Senate and would fund Trump's agenda, including strengthening border policies and ending taxes on overtime and tips. "I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore," Musk posted to X Tuesday. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it." He added the next day that the bill's "immense level of overspending will drive America into debt slavery!" This was followed by a stream of X posts calling on Americans to encourage their lawmakers to "kill the bill" as well as a "KILL BILL" meme of the 2003 movie with the same name. Musk has found himself aligned with members of the House Freedom Caucus, which is considered the most conservative voting bloc within the lower chamber, as well as staunch fiscal conservatives in the Senate, such as Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Sen. Ron. Johnson, who have publicly rebuked the legislation. Paul said Monday that its potential passage would increase the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, calling the bill a "terrible idea" that bucks conservative ideas. The national debt currently stands at about $36 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent government agency, published a June report that the bill would increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion throughout the next decade. "I want the tax cuts to be permanent. But at the same time, I don't wanna raise the debt ceiling five trillion," Paul told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "The GOP will own the debt once they vote for this." Trump has admonished the criticism from fiscally conservative Republicans, arguing that Paul, for example, was on the verge of siding with the "Radical Left Democrats" and encouraging a 68% tax hike on Americans if he votes against the legislation. "Rand will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, and the GREAT people of Kentucky will never forgive him! The GROWTH we are experiencing, plus some cost cutting later on, will solve ALL problems. America will be greater than ever before!" Trump posted to Truth Social Saturday of Paul. Musk, in an earlier public rebuke of the bill, remarked that he was "disappointed" it passed the House in May as it "undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Trump is aware of Musk's views on the bill, but that the legislation still has the president's full endorsement, when asked by Fox News' Peter Doocy about Musk's X post claiming the bill was a "disgusting abomination." "The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill," Leavitt said. "It doesn't change the president's opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill and he's sticking to it." Leavitt also pushed back in the briefing Tuesday that the Congressional Budget Office's prognostication for the bill is likely wrong, citing a history of missing the mark on budget predictions. "The Congressional Budget Office has been historically wrong," Leavitt said. "In fact, they predicted the Trump tax cuts from the president's first term in 2017. Their prediction was wrong by half a trillion. Those tax cuts had nearly a half trillion dollars more of revenue than the Congressional Budget Office scored. And I would also point out, I don't think many people know this, there hasn't been a single staffer in the entire Congressional Budget Office that has contributed to a Republican since the year 2000. But guess what? There have been many staffers within the Congressional Budget Office who have contributed to Democrat candidates and politicians every single cycle." House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also slammed the report for employing static scoring as opposed to dynamic scoring, which in "layman's terms is they don't give us any credit for the extraordinary economic growth that will be spurred along by this bill." Static scoring evaluates the fiscal impact of a policy change without considering how the change will affect the economy overall, while dynamic scoring broadens the scope of a study to include how a policy change would affect the economy. A White House official told Fox News Digital that Musk and Trump have historically seen eye-to-eye on political issues more than they differ, adding they continue to share many political views when asked if Musk has gone further to the right than Trump since his work within the administration. Trump spoke publicly about Musk's criticisms Thursday from the Oval Office during a meeting with the chancellor of Germany, remarking he was "disappointed" with Musk's rebukes. "I'm very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people," Trump said in the Oval Office. "He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out that we're going to have to cut the EV mandate, because that's billions and billions of dollars, and it really is unfair." "Elon and I had a great relationship," Trump added. "I don't know if we will anymore." Musk's leadership of DOGE came to an official end May 28 as his time as a special government employee ran dry of its 130 predetermined days. While in the role, Musk became a common target of liberal ire as he led efforts to remove fraud, corruption and overspending from federal departments and agencies across the government, which included cutting government programs and mass layoffs. All in, the Department of Government Efficiency touts that it has saved an estimated $180 billion through initiatives such as grant or contract cancellations, workforce reductions or stamping out fraud. Musk's efforts on DOGE have been celebrated by conservatives and Republicans, who frequently campaign on cutting government fat. "It is time to cut red tape, hold the unchecked federal workforce accountable, ensure programs are efficient, & work with @DOGE to tackle waste, fraud, & abuse," House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., Comer posted on X in December 2024 ahead of DOGE's official launch. "Iowans elected me with a mandate to cut Washington's pork!" Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said in December 2024. "From billion-dollar boondoggles to welfare for politicians and trillion-dollar slush funds, my decade-long investigations have exposed levels of abuse that are almost too insane to believe." The tech billionaire behind Tesla and Space X previously described himself as a Democrat and centrist before making a public political shift to the right amid Trump's run for the presidency and inauguration – including repeatedly taking stances that fall in line with conservative ideology. Musk endorsed Trump for the presidency in July 2024, after Trump faced his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. He later joined the political fray through campaign events promoting Trump's candidacy in key battleground states. Before Trump's win, Musk railed from the campaign trail that the federal government had become bloated with overspending and red tape that he said hampers private sector innovation. "Tomorrow, I will tell the story of how SpaceX was forced by the government to kidnap seals, put earphones on them and play sonic boom sounds to see if they seemed upset," Musk posted to X in October 2024, teasing he would elaborate on his government overregulation experiences from a campaign event. Trump touted during the election cycle that Musk would likely serve as his "Secretary of Cost-Cutting" if he won re-election, teeing up fanfare around Musk's anticipated efforts to take a hatchet to the federal government's budget. Musk's political evolution, most notably when it comes to fiscal issues, followed the tech tycoon touting in 2018 on X, "True socialism seeks greatest good for all." He added in 2020 that "socially," he is "very liberal," continuing that he is "economically right of center, maybe, or center," the New York Times previously reported. In addition to slamming the "big beautiful bill" in recent days, Musk has posted a handful of X messages celebrating free market champion Milton Friedman and beloved conservative economist Thomas Sowell. As Trump's tariff policies were rolled out in April, Musk posted a video clip of Friedman explaining that an item as simple as a pencil is the result of free market economics and supply chains across the world. Musk shared the video with no caption. "Literally thousands of people cooperated to make this pencil," Friedman, who died in 2006, was seen saying in the video. "People who don't speak the same language, who practice different religions, who might hate one another if they ever met. When you go down the store and buy this pencil, you are, in effect, trading a few minutes of your time for a few seconds of the time of all those thousands of people." "The operation of the free market is so essential, not only to promote productive efficiency, but even more to foster harmony and peace among the peoples of the world," he said. Musk also recently shared a quote from Sowell on the history of slavery in the U.S. "It's one of many evils that the Left tries to localize when it's a universal evil,'" Sowell was seen saying in a video post on X that was reshared by Musk on Jan. 11 with the caption "True." Musk also doubled down on strong endorsements of the Second Amendment while on the campaign trail, posting on X in October 2024 that "tyrannical government" works to take guns from citizens in an effort to snuff out free speech. "The right to bear arms is there to protect free speech and stop a tyrannical government from taking your rights away! That's why the first thing that all tyrants do is disarm the people, just like Chavez did when he was first elected. After that, no more real elections in Venezuela," Musk posted to his X account in October 2024. Musk had previously praised America's Second Amendment, including in 2022 when he said he "strongly (believes) that the right to bear arms is an important safeguard against potential tyranny of government." His comments while on the campaign trail rallying support for Trump, however, found renewed praise among conservatives in 2024 as they found additional common ground with the tech billionaire. DOGE is still operating following Musk's departure. The temporary cross-departmental organization will be dissolved on July 4, 2026, according to Trump's executive order that established the organization in January.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Elon Musk accuses Trump of driving America into 'debt slavery'
Elon Musk is going all-in on his war with President Donald Trump over his massive spending proposal. The billionaire tech giant and former 'first buddy' once glued to Trump's side bombastically claimed overnight that Trump is plunging the U.S. into 'debt slavery' in an escalation of his war with the president. 'This immense level of overspending will drive America into debt slavery!' he insisted. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed the House last month but is now held up in the Senate where some Republicans agree with Musk's criticism of the legislation. While Musk opened up the pathway for criticism earlier this month, he really began tearing into his former best friend with a series of posts on X Tuesday and Wednesday. He slammed pro-MAGA lawmakers in Congress who voted for the 'disgusting abomination' legislation. He said enough was enough in another Tuesday post where he claimed: 'Mammoth spending bills are bankrupting America!' Around 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Musk continued his tirade on his social media platform. He also reposted a series of tweets where Musk aligned himself with Republican Sen. Ran Paul of Kentucky, who has been vocal about his opposition to the Big Beautiful Bill. 'I've been pretty consistent in my time in the Senate: I oppose deficit spending—no matter which party is in charge. If we don't get serious about reigning in the debt, the next generation will pay the price,' Paul wrote in an X post that Musk reposted to his page. 'Interest payments already consume 25% of all government revenue,' Musk wrote on X around 2:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday. The Tesla and SpaceX boss continued: If the massive deficit spending continues, there will only be money for interest payments and nothing else! No social security, no medical, no defense … nothing.'
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
‘Disgusting abomination': Why is Elon Musk slamming Trump's budget bill?
Billionaire Elon Musk has lashed out at United States President Donald Trump's budget bill, describing it as a 'disgusting abomination', less than a week after he left the administration and at a time when the legislation is expected to come up for voting before the Senate. The so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill' passed in the House of Representatives in late May has come under increasing scrutiny not just from opposition Democrats but from sections of conservatives, including a handful of Republican senators, and Musk. Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), set up by Trump to cut waste in public spending, left the administration on May 29. He had criticised the bill a day before his stint in government ended, but in much more muted language than the words he used on Tuesday. But why is Musk so opposed to the bill, why is the legislation so important to Trump, and how does it square with the president's other stated fiscal priorities? 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,' Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he owns. 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.'In another post, Musk wrote, 'Mammoth spending bills are bankrupting America! ENOUGH.' The world's richest man continued his tirade against the bill on Wednesday. 'This immense level of overspending will drive America into debt slavery!' he wrote on X. Musk claimed the bill would 'massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion'. The US government's budget deficit has been rising. It stood at $1.83 trillion in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the Department of the Treasury. This is not the first time that Musk has criticised the 'One Big Beautiful Bill', even mocking its name in a television interview in late May. 'I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful. But I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion,' Musk told CBS journalist David Pogue on May 27. He added that he was 'disappointed to see the massive spending bill'. At DOGE, Musk was tasked with slashing US government infrastructure – a mandate that saw his team push through a significant culling of the federal workforce, with thousands laid off. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the government's foreign aid diplomacy arm, was also gutted, leaving critical public health initiatives, among others, struggling for survival in several emerging economies. In the interview with Pogue, Musk suggested that profligate government spending through the bill would undercut the gains made by DOGE in saving tax dollars. The 'One Big Beautiful Bill' is the centrepiece of Trump's legislative agenda and aims to deliver on a series of his campaign promises. It extends the tax cuts Trump introduced during his first term in office in 2017. At the same time, however, it earmarks funding for other priorities of the current administration. It sets aside, for instance, $46.5bn to continue work on constructing barriers along the US-Mexico border to stop migrants and refugees from entering the country. On social media, Trump has described the bill – characteristically, in all caps – as a 'WINNER' and as a 'BIG GROWTH BILL'. The bill carries financial – and many believe political – costs. To finance Trump's priorities, the bill in its current form would dramatically cut social security programmes that millions of Americans depend on. Funding for Medicaid subsidies will drop by $698bn, according to estimates by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). More than 71 million Americans were enrolled under Medicaid as of January 2025, according to government data. The programme offers health insurance to low-income Americans. The bill will also snip $267bn in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps, according to the CBO. An estimated 41 million Americans used food stamps in 2024. Many critics of the bill have said these cuts leave the most vulnerable Americans even more exposed to healthcare crises and food shortages. But others, especially at the conservative end of the political spectrum, have pointed to how the bill will further bloat the country's debt. The current US federal debt limit stands at $36.1 trillion, set on January 2, 2025. But that gives the government no leeway to borrow any more, since the federal government is currently $36.2 trillion in debt. The new bill proposes raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. That has angered some Republicans. Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky, on Tuesday backed Musk's criticism of the bill. 'I agree with Elon. We have both seen the massive waste in government spending,' Paul wrote on X. 'We can and must do better.' Paul has said he will try to block the bill in its current form in the Senate, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority. In the House, the bill passed with 215 votes in favour, and 214 against: all Democrats voted against it, joined by two Republicans, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio. Yes, in many ways, the bill's proposal to raise the debt ceiling contradicts another Trump campaign promise – to cut debt. DOGE was set up with that in mind, and the Trump administration has justified slashing foreign aid by arguing that it would curb US debt. Trump has also argued that the tariffs he has imposed – and wants to impose – on a range of countries and goods will help the US trim its debt, though many economists have challenged the logic behind that claim.
Fox News
6 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Elon Musk warns excessive spending will plunge US 'into debt slavery'
Billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk, who issued a scathing rebuke of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the House Republicans who voted for it, is sounding the alarm about America's profligate spending, warning that it will plunge the nation "into debt slavery." "This immense level of overspending will drive America into debt slavery!" Musk declared early on Wednesday in a post on X. His warning comes as the U.S. national debt is more than $36 trillion. "Interest payments already consume 25% of all government revenue. If the massive deficit spending continues, there will only be money for interest payments and nothing else! No social security, no medical, no defense … nothing," he declared in another post. President Donald Trump has been supporting the proposal that cleared the House last month, but on Tuesday, Musk blasted both the measure and those who voted for it. "I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," Musk asserted in a post on X. When Fox News' Peter Doocy brought up Musk's critique on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that "the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn't change the president's opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's stickin' to it." Musk is pounding the drum on the importance of tackling America's debt and spending problems. "Mammoth spending bills are bankrupting America! ENOUGH," Musk declared in a tweet.
Russia Today
7 days ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Pork-filled disgusting abomination – Musk on Trump's ‘big beautiful bill'
Tech billionaire and former White House efficiency czar Elon Musk has blasted US President Donald Trump's 'Big Beautiful' tax bill as overspending and a 'disgusting abomination.' Trump's centerpiece bill narrowly passed in the House of Representatives last week and will need to go before the Senate. The legislation aims to prevent an end-of-year tax increase and raises the limit on the already staggering US debt by a further $4 trillion. Musk, who recently stepped down as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has repeatedly criticized the bill, claiming it compromises his efforts to trim the fat off the federal budget. 'I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,' he wrote on X on Tuesday. 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,' he added. I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it. In an interview with CBS news last week, Musk stressed that the legislation 'undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,' as it 'increases the budget deficit.' House Speaker Mike Johnson disagreed with Musk's assessment, saying that the bill would instead secure $1.6 trillion in savings, reduce spending, and provide tax relief. 'With all due respect, Elon is simply wrong about the One Big Beautiful Bill,' he told the press on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, adding that 'Congress is working hard to get this to President Trump's desk by July 4th.' When asked about Musk's criticism of the bill, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt replied that Trump is aware of the former presidential advisor's position on the matter. 'It doesn't change the president's opinion,' she told the press on Tuesday.
