Elon Musk on Tuesday tore into the massive tax-and-spending-cut bill backed by President Donald Trump, calling it a “disgusting abomination” that will explode federal budget deficits.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote in a post on X, his social media site.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” the Tesla
and SpaceX CEO added.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” wrote Musk, who until last week led the Trump administration’s DOGE effort to cut government spending and waste.
Musk in a follow-up post wrote that the bill “will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
The jibes came two days after CBS News aired an interview in which Musk said that the legislative package backed by the Republican president “undermines” DOGE.
The White House quickly shrugged off Musk’s latest criticism.
“Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing Tuesday when asked about the initial post.
“It doesn’t change the President’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt doubled down on the administration’s claim that it is “blatantly wrong” to say that the bill adds to the deficit.
She accused the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which found that the budget package would raise the deficit by $3.8 trillion over the next decade, of being biased against Republicans.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who led the Republican caucus’s effort to pass the spending package through that chamber, told reporters, “With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the one big beautiful bill.”
Johnson, R-La., reiterated his defense of the bill in an X post, while also vowing that Congress would codify some of DOGE’s claimed government-spending cuts as part of a rescissions package.
One Response
Most Republicans probably agree with Trump. Increasing the deficit will eventually lead to disaster. The fact that Trump and the Democrats agree on this (though both will deny it) is a problem.