By: Jacob Fischler (North Dakota Monitor)
Elon Musk says in an interview excerpt that he was “disappointed” in the U.S. House GOP’s massive legislative package of tax cuts, border funding and more of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy priorities, telling CBS News the bill would undermine the work of his U.S. DOGE Service to cut government spending.
The interview, a portion of which was published Tuesday evening as a preview of this weekend’s edition of “CBS Sunday Morning,” marks the first public rift between Musk, the world’s richest man and a major funder of Trump’s 2024 campaign, and the president who gave him an influential position in his second White House stint.
During the closing days of the presidential campaign, Musk said he could find $2 trillion per year in the federal budget to cut.
The legislation that Trump has promoted as the “big, beautiful bill” works against the goals Musk set as he spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency that sought to slash the size of the federal workforce, Musk said.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said. “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.”
The U.S. House narrowly passed the 1,100-page bill last week with all Democrats and two Republicans voting against it. Senate Republicans are planning to use the complex budget reconciliation process to pass the bill without subjecting it to the chamber’s usual 60-vote threshold for legislation.
The measure includes an extension of the 2017 tax cuts, changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that are expected to reduce federal spending on benefits by nearly $1 trillion over a decade, and increased funding for Defense Department and border security initiatives.
The House’s bill would add $2.3 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Musk and Republicans who wish to downsize the federal government have called for taking actions based on DOGE’s recommendations.
Asked about Musk’s comments during an Oval Office event Wednesday, Trump praised the work of House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and noted the slim majorities in both chambers.
He also touted the tax cuts included in the bill, but conceded he was “not happy about certain aspects of” the bill — although the administration issued a Statement of Administration Policy supporting it and saying Trump would sign it into law.
“But I’m thrilled by other aspects of it,” he said. “That’s the way they go. It’s very big. It’s the big, beautiful bill. But the beautiful is because of all of the things we have. The biggest thing being, I would say, the level of tax cutting that we’re going to be doing.”
Johnson, who spent weeks negotiating with disparate factions of his conference to win passage of the measure, attempted to soothe Musk’s concerns in a Wednesday post to X, which Musk owns.
The Louisiana Republican praised Musk’s work while promising spending cuts would come in bills that are outside the budget reconciliation process: annual appropriations bills and a recissions package that takes away unspent money from previous appropriations laws.
“@ElonMusk and the entire @DOGE team have done INCREDIBLE work exposing waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government,” Johnson wrote. “The House is eager and ready to act on DOGE’s findings so we can deliver even more cuts to big government that President Trump wants and the American people demand.”
Johnson echoed a post from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who said the rules around budget reconciliation made it difficult to cut significant chunks of discretionary spending, which is separate from the major cuts projected to hit the mandatory Medicaid and SNAP programs.
The administration is planning to send to House Republicans next week a proposal to rescind $9.4 billion in federal spending, according to a Wednesday report in Politico that cited unnamed House Republican and administration sources. The report was published after the Musk comments appeared on CBS News’ website.
On X, Johnson said the annual appropriations bills, which Congress began formal work on this month with department heads appearing at subcommittee hearings, would also provide spending cuts.
Appropriators, though, have cautioned against the aggressive cuts sought by the administration.
Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that writes the funding bill for environmental programs, told Interior Secretary Doug Burgum the panel would likely fund his department above what the administration request.
Burgum said he would comply with whatever spending amount Congress approves.
