In an uncommon public dispute with his erstwhile ally, Elon Musk has criticized Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” claiming it poses a risk to the nation’s financial stability.
Musk, who is well-known for leading SpaceX and Tesla, reportedly expressed worries that the law will worsen the deficit and jeopardize the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to cut government spending.
In an interview with CBS News, Musk, a longtime Trump admirer and significant contributor to his 2024 reelection campaign, voiced dismay over the enormous spending plan.
In the Tuesday airing of the interview, Musk criticized the plan for perhaps making the country’s budget imbalance worse.
“To be honest, I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill that undermines the work being done by the DOGE team and actually increases the budget deficit rather than decreasing it,” Musk stated. The DOGE that Musk had led was in charge of cutting government spending, which included firing thousands of federal workers.
Musk, who had previously participated in Trump’s government efficiency initiatives, also discussed the conflict between the bill’s massive spending and his attempts to reduce unnecessary government expenditure.
I believe that a bill can be either large or exquisite. However, I am unsure if it can be both. In the interview, which will be broadcast in its entirety on Sunday, Musk continued, “That’s my personal viewpoint.
Significant tax and expenditure cuts are part of the package, which passed the US House of Representatives last week and is now headed to the Senate. Critics say the measures might jeopardize healthcare services and increase the national deficit by $4 trillion over the next ten years.
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller clarified that the “Big Beautiful Bill” was not included in the annual federal budget and that cuts to DOGE would need to be handled separately in an effort by the White House to minimize any conflicts over government expenditure in response to Musk’s remarks.
Miller stressed that any reductions to the federal bureaucracy would necessitate a separate legislative process on Musk’s social media platform, 𝕏.
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Musk’s comments reveal his mounting dissatisfaction with the difficulties he encountered while leading DOGE. He attacked the long-standing bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., and said that his own inexperience with the political climate in Washington made it harder to accomplish his goals.
Musk acknowledged, “I didn’t appreciate how bad the federal bureaucracy situation was. I believed there were issues, but to put it mildly, attempting to make things better in Washington, DC, is a difficult task.
Musk acknowledged that his efforts were not entirely successful, even though he oversaw the termination of tens of thousands of workers and the significant downsizing of government agencies.
His tenure at DOGE also had a detrimental effect on his enterprises; demonstrators targeted Tesla showrooms, and even arsonists set fire to some of the electric cars, which caused a decline in profits.
Musk returned his focus to SpaceX after resigning from his position at DOGE, where he has encountered numerous obstacles in his attempts to colonize Mars. The company’s Starship prototype detonated over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, marking the most recent of these setbacks.
Musk, who has already contributed a sizeable amount of his wealth—roughly $250 million—to Trump’s campaign, declared last week that he will reduce his political spending in light of his political activity and its effect on his own fortune.
