Latest news with #spendingbill
CNA
2 days ago
- Business
- CNA
White House to continue cost-cutting drive despite Musk departure
WASHINGTON: The White House on Thursday (May 29) vowed that its massive federal government slashing drive would continue, even after the departure of cost-cutter-in-chief Elon Musk, who the administration thanked for his service. US President Donald Trump had tasked Musk with cutting government spending as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but, after a feverish start, the billionaire recently announced he was stepping back to focus on his companies, including Tesla and SpaceX. "We thank him for his service. We thank him for getting DOGE off the ground, and the efforts to cut waste, fraud and abuse will continue," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. Musk has paid tribute to Trump, but also criticised the president's signature spending bill, saying it would increase the national deficit and undermine the cost-cutting work. Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" - which passed the US House last week and now moves to the Senate - offers sprawling tax relief and spending cuts and is the centrepiece of his domestic agenda. But Musk, a key Trump advisor and financial backer, said in a CBS interview that he was "disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly." The world's richest person last week also said he would pull back from spending on politics, having contributed around a quarter of a billion dollars to support Trump's election campaign.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump aide's wife leaves White House to work for Elon Musk hours after he posts intriguing tweet
Katie Miller is following Elon Musk from the White House back to the private sector as the tech billionaire officially leaves his post in Washington, D.C. But her husband, Stephen Miller, appeared to respond negatively to her boss's criticism of President Donald Trump 's massive spending bill. The top Trump aide caused a stir on social media on Tuesday after Musk said he was 'disappointed' in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and claimed it went against the cuts he worked hard to implement during his months at the Department of Government Efficiency. It seemed that Miller, the Homeland Security advisor and White House deputy chief of staff for policy, reacted to those comments via subtweet later that night. He explained on X that Congress was not able to cut discretionary spending like what Musk's agency aimed to do. 'Under senate budget rules, you cannot cut discretionary spending (only mandatory) in a reconciliation bill,' Miller wrote to social media on Tuesday. 'So DOGE cuts would have to be done through what is known as a rescissions package or an appropriations bill.' 'The Big Beautiful Bill is NOT an annual budget bill and does not fund the departments of government,' he went on. 'It does not finance our agencies or federal programs.' Katie Miller served as an adviser and the spokeswoman for DOGE, but will leave the White House to work 'full time' for Musk on the private sector side, according to a CNN report. Her new duties could include booking his media appearances for Tesla and SpaceX, one source confirmed. In just the past week, Musk has given interviews to the Washington Post, CBS News and Ars Technica about SpaceX's Starship now failed launch. While in government, Miller had been considered a Special Government Employee, which allows private sector figures to work for the federal government, but restricts them to 130 days per year. Musk officially quit his position as the head of DOGE this month and announced Wednesday he was stepping down from his role alongside Trump. He is now set to dedicate more time to his private sector ventures. 'I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics,' Musk told Ars Technica this week when asked about priorities and the failed SpaceX launch. He insisted: 'It's less than people would think, because the media is going to over-represent any political stuff, because political bones of contention get a lot of traction in the media.' 'It's not like I left the companies,' Musk continued. 'It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks. The richest man on earth was initially scheduled to depart from the administration by May 30, and has spent the last few weeks slowly phasing out of politics amid whispers of tensions with top administration officials. Musk called Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act a 'disappointment' because it 'undermined' the work he did at DOGE. The same day, Stephen Miller posted the above tweet to X The situation came to a head on Tuesday night when Musk laid into Trump's 'big beautiful bill' and admitted he was disappointed with the treatment his DOGE team had received. 'It undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,' Musk bluntly told CBS of the $3.8 trillion tax and spending bill. Musk - who spoke to multiple outlets about the White House betrayal - went on to decry the treatment he and his baby-faced DOGE henchmen had received. 'DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,' he told the Washington Post. 'Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.' After helping Trump win the 2024 election with outrageous financial contributions and stage-jumping endorsements, Musk earned the title of 'First Buddy' in the White House. For the first several months of Trump's second term, Musk was everywhere - briefing Trump personally, gutting federal departments and even bringing his son, X, along to crucial meetings in the Oval Office. But his arrival ruffled feathers both within the political establishment a nd among governmental employees, particularly when he set about mercilessly slashing jobs in an effort to root out wasteful spending. 'People burning Teslas,' he told the Post. 'Why would you do that?' As Tesla showrooms around the nation became the epicenters of violent protests, stock prices nosedived and reports emerged that the board was seriously considering replacing Musk. 'I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics,' Musk admitted in a separate interview with ARS Technica. 'It's not like I left the companies. It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks.' Musk twisted the knife a little further with outspoken criticism of Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill.' 'I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both,' he said. 'My personal opinion.' The bill is estimated to add another $3.8 trillion to the national debt which currently stands at a monstrous $36 trillion. 'The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,' he said. 'I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.' Musk saved an estimated $160billion in what he labeled wasteful government spending by decimating or shutting down 11 federal agencies - putting about 250,000 federal employees out of work in the process. But even that number is a far cry from the $2trillion he vowed to save when DOGE was launched, and it has cost him immensely with mounting lawsuits and global protests against both he and his companies. Still, Trump praised Musk as he revealed the billionaire had taken a step back from DOGE and said he would have been welcome to ' stay as long as you want.' Musk, in turn, praised the president in his own statement. 'As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,' he wrote on X on Wednesday night. 'The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Musk gives parting message to Trump as he officially quits DOGE after blasting new spending bill
Elon Musk has quit the Department of Government Efficiency and bid farewell to the White House just one day after he publicly split with President Donald Trump. The former First Buddy praised the president in an apparent effort to depart on good terms after he slammed Trump's 'big beautiful bill' and admitted he was disappointed with the treatment his DOGE team had received. 'As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,' he wrote on X on Wednesday night. 'The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.' Musk was due to finish up his time at the White House by May 30. His appointment as a Special Government Employee was only temporary and designed to last 130 days. And the world's richest man had been slowly phasing out of politics for weeks amid whispers of tensions with top administration officials. But the situation came to a head on Tuesday night when Musk offered several points of criticism from his South Texas Starbase ahead of his latest SpaceX launch. 'It undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,' Musk bluntly told CBS of the $3.8trillion spending bill. The former First Buddy praised the president in an apparent effort to depart on good terms after he slammed Trump's 'big beautiful bill' and admitted he was disappointed with the treatment his DOGE team had received 'I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it.' Musk - who spoke to multiple outlets about the White House betrayal - went on to decry the treatment he and his baby-faced DOGE henchmen had received. 'DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,' he told the Washington Post. 'Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.' After helping Trump win the 2024 election with outrageous financial contributions and stage-jumping endorsements, Musk earned the title of 'First Buddy' in the White House. For the first several months of Trump's second term, Musk was everywhere - briefing Trump personally, gutting federal departments and even bringing his son, X, along to crucial meetings in the Oval Office. But his arrival ruffled feathers both within the political establishment a nd among governmental employees, particularly when he set about mercilessly slashing jobs in an effort to root out wasteful spending. 'People burning Teslas,' he told the Post. 'Why would you do that?' As Tesla showrooms around the nation became the epicenters of violent protests, stock prices nosedived and reports emerged that the board was seriously considering replacing Musk. 'I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics,' Musk admitted in a separate interview with ARS Technica. 'It's not like I left the companies. It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks.' Musk twisted the knife a little further with outspoken criticism of Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill.' 'I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both,' he said. 'My personal opinion.' The bill is estimated to add another $3.8 trillion to the national debt which currently stands at a monstrous $36 trillion. 'The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,' he said. 'I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.' Musk saved an estimated $160billion in what he labeled wasteful government spending by decimating or shutting down 11 federal agencies - putting about 250,000 federal employees out of work in the process. But even that number is a far cry from the $2trillion he vowed to save when DOGE was launched, and it has cost him immensely with mounting lawsuits and global protests against both he and his companies. He stepped back from his high-profile role recently to refocus on his lifelong goal of colonizing Mars amid whispers his friendship with Trump was on the rocks and that he'd made enemies within the White House. Despite all the rumors, Trump praised Musk as he revealed the billionaire had taken a step back from DOGE and said he would have been welcome to ' stay as long as you want.'
Fox News
2 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Elon Musk criticism of Trump tax bill frustrates some Republicans: 'No place in Congress'
Elon Musk's criticism of House Republicans' "big, beautiful bill" has left some GOP lawmakers frustrated at the tech billionaire. "This is why Mr. Musk has no place in Congress," one House GOP lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital. "He wants to codify discretionary cuts. He didn't find enough waste, fraud, and abuse to fund [the Small Business Administration], let alone reduce our debt." "This was a gimmick. He got used. He's now upset. He played the game, he got what he wanted, then he ended up like everyone else who gets too close." House Republicans passed a broad-ranging bill last week advancing President Donald Trump's agenda on tax, immigration, defense, and energy. Congressional Republicans are hoping to pass it via the budget reconciliation process, a mechanism for passing fiscal legislation while waiving the Senate's 60-vote threshold and sidelining the minority party. Musk told "CBS Sunday Morning" the legislation "undermines the work" done by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He called it a "massive spending bill" that "increases the budget deficit." However, Republican supporters of the bill have contended that the kind of spending cuts Musk is looking for, and the kind DOGE outlined, cannot be done via the reconciliation process. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., himself pledged in a public statement after Musk's comments that House Republicans would tackle DOGE cuts – albeit in a different vehicle than the "big, beautiful bill." Reconciliation primarily deals with mandatory government funding that Congress must change by amending the law itself, like federal safety net programs. The White House is also planning to send a package of proposed spending cuts to Congress next week, including cuts outlined by DOGE, that target discretionary government spending. Discretionary spending refers to the cash flows that Congress controls annually via the budget appropriations process. Other supporters of the bill, like Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said its focus was on people outside of Musk's wealth class. "The bill strikes the proper balance between rooting out fraud to achieve savings and not impacting citizens who rely on government programs. The biggest winners for a change are not billionaires like Musk but middle-class families who will see the bulk of savings returned to them in the form of real tax relief," Malliotakis told Fox News Digital. "That's who President Trump and House Republicans set out to help." A second House Republican who requested anonymity to speak freely told Fox News Digital that Musk did "put a lot of work in" with DOGE but argued he was wrong on the facts. "I mean, it wouldn't be the first time that he didn't really have a handle on the process," the House Republican said. "So, you know, we really have to bake the DOGE cuts into the budget rather than through reconciliation." Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Musk for comment via Tesla but did not immediately hear back. On the other side of the House GOP Conference, fiscal hawks who also had issues with the legislation rallied around Musk's comments. "I share Mr. Musk's concerns about the short-term adverse effect on the federal deficit of the limited spending reductions in the BBB. Debt markets remain concerned about US total debt and annual deficits," said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md. The Maryland Republican voted "present" on the reconciliation bill last week. "Hopefully the Senate will take those concerns into consideration as the legislative process moves forward," Harris said. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, the lone House Republican to vote against the bill, posted on X, "Hopefully, the Senate will succeed where the House missed the moment. Don't hope someone else will cut spending someday, know it has been done this Congress." "Despite pleas to step back and look at the sum of the parts passed by 11 different committees, this bill was rushed to the floor when it should have been fixed," Davidson said. Musk announced late on Wednesday that he was stepping away from his federal government role because his "scheduled time as a Special Government Employee" was coming "to an end."
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Elon Musk scales back role in Trump's DOGE
Published: Updated: Elon Musk has quit the Department of Government Efficiency and bid farewell to the White House just one day after he publicly split with President Donald Trump. The former First Buddy praised the president in an apparent effort to depart on good terms after he slammed Trump's 'big beautiful bill' and admitted he was disappointed with the treatment his DOGE team had received. But the situation came to a head on Tuesday night when Musk offered several points of criticism from his South Texas Starbase ahead of his latest SpaceX launch. 'It undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,' Musk bluntly told CBS of the $3.8trillion spending bill. 'I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it.' Musk - who spoke to multiple outlets about the White House betrayal - went on to decry the treatment he and his baby-faced DOGE henchmen had received. 'DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,' he told the Washington Post. 'Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.' After helping Trump win the 2024 election with outrageous financial contributions and stage-jumping endorsements, Musk earned the title of 'First Buddy' in the White House. For the first several months of Trump's second term, Musk was everywhere - briefing Trump personally, gutting federal departments and even bringing his son, X, along to crucial meetings in the Oval Office. But his arrival ruffled feathers both within the political establishment a nd among governmental employees, particularly when he set about mercilessly slashing jobs in an effort to root out wasteful spending. 'People burning Teslas,' he told the Post. 'Why would you do that?' As Tesla showrooms around the nation became the epicenters of violent protests , stock prices nosedived and reports emerged that the board was seriously considering replacing Musk. 'I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics,' Musk admitted in a separate interview with ARS Technica. 'It's not like I left the companies. It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks.' Musk twisted the knife a little further with outspoken criticism of Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill.' 'I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both,' he said. 'My personal opinion.' The bill is estimated to add another $3.8 trillion to the national debt which currently stands at a monstrous $36 trillion. 'The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,' he said. 'I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.' Musk saved an estimated $160billion in what he labeled wasteful government spending by decimating or shutting down 11 federal agencies - putting about 250,000 federal employees out of work in the process. But even that number is a far cry from the $2trillion he vowed to save when DOGE was launched, and it has cost him immensely with mounting lawsuits and global protests against both he and his companies. He stepped back from his high-profile role recently to refocus on his lifelong goal of colonizing Mars amid whispers his friendship with Trump was on the rocks and that he'd made enemies within the White House. Despite all the rumors, Trump praised Musk as he revealed the billionaire had taken a step back from DOGE and said he would have been welcome to 'stay as long as you want.'
