President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” was defended by the White House on Tuesday, following outgoing DOGE head Elon Musk’s harsh condemnation of the law, which he described as a “disgusting abomination.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Musk expressed his frustration, saying, “just can’t stand it anymore.” He has been vocal in his criticism of the planned reconciliation package.
“This enormous, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a repulsive abomination,” Musk continued in a post he made on X on Tuesday afternoon. Voters, you are aware that you made a mistake; it is shame on you. I know it.
The measure was overwhelmingly approved by members of both parties in the House in late May, just before Memorial Day. Two Republicans, however, cast ballots against the bill, arguing that it did not go far enough in cutting expenditure and that the national debt was growing. Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky, has also hinted that he will probably not support the plan as it is, stating that a debt limit rise is something he cannot abide.
In contrast to his scathing attack on Paul and others who opposed the plan, Trump has responded calmly to Musk’s criticism.
In response to Musk’s latest critique, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated, “Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill” at a Tuesday afternoon briefing.
It has no effect on the president’s stance. According to her, he is steadfastly adhering to this enormous and stunning bill.
During an interview with CBS, Musk—who oversaw the DOGE’s cost-cutting initiatives—expressed his “disappointed” with the funding bill and said that “it undermines” the work that his team had done.
When questioned about Musk’s critique of the bill in May on CBS, Trump said, “Well, our reaction’s a lot of things,” before shifting the conversation to discuss the votes that were required to approve the measure.
“Number one, we have to get a lot of votes, we can’t be cutting – we need to get a lot of support and we have a lot of support,” stated the governor. We were unable to pass it in the House because there were no Democrats on our side. If the Democrats had their way, they would accept the 65% hike.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that he hopes Musk “will come to a different conclusion” about the GOP’s “big, beautiful” spending package, adding that he and Musk have a “difference of opinion” on the measure, in response to Musk’s criticisms from Tuesday afternoon.
The current GOP budget measure “undermines” Musk’s work with DOGE, according to Thune, who recently gave a more in-depth interview in which he addressed Musk’s criticisms.
Much of Elon’s effort was on the discretionary spending side of the budget, which is unaffected by this. Thune stated that the reconciliation plan just addresses obligatory expenditure. “But we want to incorporate a lot of the savings that he found, and there are ways to do that.”
Thune expressed his hope that Musk’s concerns about discretionary expenditure will be addressed through other legislative measures. He brought up a “rescissions bill” that the White House is reportedly pushing, which Thune said would attempt to “capture a lot of what Elon found in these various agencies and puts it in a bill that’s submitted to Congress.”