Musk ‘disappointed’ with major Trump policy bill, saying it will increase deficit

Elon Musk (centre) has criticised the far-reaching Republican bill intended to enact Trump's domestic policy agenda. Photo / Eric Lee, The New York Times

Elon Musk also said the Republican bill, which passed the House last week, would undermine the work of his Doge group.

Elon Musk criticised the far-reaching Republican bill intended to enact President Donald Trump’s domestic policy agenda, saying it would undermine the administration’s own efforts to shrink federal spending.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the Budget deficit, not just decreases it,” Musk said in an interview with CBS News’ Sunday Morning, an excerpt of which was released late on Tuesday, local time.

Musk added that the bill, which is headed to the Senate after squeaking through the House last week, would undermine the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), the White House effort to shrink the federal Government that Trump tapped him to lead.

Trump has urged swift passage of the bill – officially called the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act – which would slash taxes, providing the biggest savings to the wealthy, and steer more money to the military and immigration enforcement. As written, the legislation would cut health, nutrition, education and clean energy programmes to cover part of the cost.

But Musk said in the interview, to be broadcast on Sunday, that he was not sold on a bill that had emerged as the President’s top legislative priority. “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk said. “But I don’t know if it can be both.”

A combination of Trump’s lobbying and compromises struck by Speaker Mike Johnson managed to get the bill through the House, but it faces significant hurdles in the Senate. Republicans hold only a slim margin in the chamber, and two fiscal conservatives have said they want significant changes on the grounds that the bill lacks specific measures to reduce the national deficit.

Asked about Musk’s comments, Trump declined to engage directly with them. But he defended the bill generally and said it contained the provisions it did because “Number one, we have to get a lot of votes”, with Democrats unified in opposition.

If the bill is not approved, Trump said “this country is going to get a 65% increase in taxes and lots of other problems, big problems, almost bigger than that”. He added: “We will be negotiating that bill and I’m not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it. That’s the way that goes.”

Musk – who spent more than US$250 million ($419m) to help Trump’s campaign – joined the White House as a “special government employee” to lead the Doge effort, which Trump hailed as one of his biggest accomplishments. The effort, which set the lofty goal of slashing $1 trillion ($1.6 trillion) from the federal Budget but has fallen far short of that goal, has led to clashes with Cabinet secretaries and complaints from some lawmakers.

Musk’s support for Trump has also caused sales to plummet at Tesla, his electric car company, and last week, the billionaire said he would spend less time in Washington and more time running his companies.

Written by: Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Photographs by: Eric Lee

This article originally appeared in the New York Times.

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