Washington — Elon Musk ramped up his criticism of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on Tuesday, calling it “a disgusting abomination” as Congress rushes to send the legislation to the president by July 4.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote in a post on X, adding that the sweeping policy bill aimed at advancing Mr. Trump’s domestic priorities is “outrageous” and “pork-filled.”
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,” he said. Hours later, he warned, “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the criticism during the daily press briefing, telling reporters that Mr. Trump “already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion.”
Musk told “CBS Sunday Morning” in a recent interview that he was “disappointed” by the price tag of the measure, which passed the House before Memorial Day after Mr. Trump stepped up pressure on the Republican holdouts to fall in line. Musk said the package increases the deficit and undermines the work of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk told CBS News, “but I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.”
Some Republican senators were quick to chime in Tuesday and back Musk’s sentiment. The package is now in the hands of the Senate and is expected to undergo changes before heading back to the House.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who opposes the House-passed legislation over the debt ceiling increase, urged the president to “take some advice from Elon.” Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who also wants a number of changes to the bill, told reporters he shared Musk’s concerns.
“The Senate must make this bill better,” added Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said he has a “difference of opinion” with Musk and the billionaire is “entitled to his opinion.”
“My hope is that as he has an opportunity to further assess what this bill actually does that he’ll come to a different conclusion,” Thune said.
GOP Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia noted that it was Mr. Trump who was elected, not Musk.
“I stand with the president, and that’s all there is to it,” Justice said.
Senate Republicans were gathered for their weekly lunch when Musk posted his criticism. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said the general reaction in the room to the message was “eyeball roll.”
On the other side of the Capitol, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, appeared to take offense to Musk’s remark.
“I just deeply regret that he’s made this mistake,” Johnson said, suggesting that Musk’s criticism is related to cuts to tax credits aimed at incentivizing electric vehicle purchases. “I know that the EV mandate is very important to him. That is going away because the government should not be subsidizing these things … and I know that has an effect on his business.”
“For him to come out and pan the whole bill is, to me, just very disappointing, very surprising, in light of the conversation I had with him yesterday,” Johnson said.
Last Wednesday, Musk announced his departure as a “special government employee,” a designation that allowed him to work for the administration under different ethics rules than federal employees and limited his work to 130 days.
Musk vowed to slash $1 trillion from the federal budget but left the Trump administration falling far short of that goal. Nonetheless, DOGE’s cuts to the government workforce, dismantling of agencies and cancelation in billions of grants and contracts sent shock waves through Washington that reverberated across the country and abroad.
A senior administration official told CBS News last week that the billionaire entrepreneur “left on good terms and is still friends with the president.”
“This isn’t a separation, but just a return to the private sector for Musk,” the official said, adding that Musk will continue to advise the president.
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Cristina Corujo and
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