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(The Hill) – On Wednesday, Elon Musk urged the termination of the House’s “big, beautiful bill” and recommended drafting a fresh spending proposal, disrupting GOP leadership’s timeline to advance President Trump’s key legislative agenda by July Fourth.
“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 X.
He later added on X, “Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.”
Musk, serving as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), labeled the House-passed legislation as “pork-filled” and a “disgusting abomination” on Tuesday. His harsh critique echoed his earlier statements, suggesting the bill sabotages DOGE’s cost-cutting initiatives.
Musk’s strong disapproval provided political support for fiscally conservative senators in the GOP who were already voicing opposition to the bill, among them GOP Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah), and Rand Paul (Ky.).
Paul said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday 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 Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday said Trump is “not delighted” with Musk’s position on the bill and said 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 thank the Tesla CEO for his work to overhaul the federal government.
