Elon Musk issued sharp criticism for President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” incorporating vast swathes of the president’s first-year legislative agenda, citing projections that the legislation will increase budget deficits.
Musk argued in an interview with CBS News scheduled to air on Sunday that the bill will contradict the cost-cutting work of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), of which Musk has announced he will take a step back from overseeing. The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO has previously criticized GOP-backed spending bills for preserving alleged wasteful spending and failing to make government more efficient.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS News.
“I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both, in my personal opinion,” the billionaire added.
Though several estimates project Trump’s landmark bill will add to the deficit, especially in the short term, House GOP leadership and senior Trump administration officials have argued that pro-economic growth policies in the tax portion of the bill, deregulation and revenue from the president’s tariffs will shrink budget deficits.
Proponents of the “big, beautiful bill” have also heralded the fact that the legislation will enact historic levels of spending reduction by reforming Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps.
“The bill saves more than 1.6 TRILLION in mandatory spending, including the largest-ever welfare reform,” White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller wrote on X Sunday. “A remarkable achievement.”
White House claims that the bill does not increase budget deficits or add to the national debt has not convinced skeptical GOP senators who say the House-passed legislation is a non-starter in the upper chamber.
“You have these independent analysts saying it’s $3.3 trillion to $4 trillion [in budget deficit increases]. I agree with that,” Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “We have to reduce the deficit. And so we need to focus on spending, spending, spending.”
Johnson also told Tapper that deficit-concerned GOP senators have the votes to stop the House-passed bill from advancing until additional spending cuts are incorporated into the legislative package.
Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott, another fiscal hawk, announced Tuesday that he will vote against the House-drafted product as currently written unless the Senate alters the bill to dramatically reduce mandatory spending.
One House Republican who voted against the bill Thursday appeared to double down on his opposition in light of Musk’s comments.
“Hopefully, the Senate will succeed with the Big Beautiful Bill where the House missed the moment,” Republican Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson wrote on X Wednesday morning. “Don’t hope someone else will cut deficits someday, know it has been done this Congress. @RepThomasMassie and I were the NO votes, but many agree.”
Musk previously torched a GOP-backed stopgap government funding bill in December 2024 for failing to crackdown on alleged wasteful spending, which led to the initial legislation’s demise.
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