Elon Musk and hardline Republicans ramp up attacks on Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the tax and spending bill will add US$2.4 trillion to the US debt pile
Hardline conservative Republicans in the Senate and billionaire Elon Musk showed no sign of softening opposition to US President Donald Trump’s tax-cut and spending bill on Wednesday, as they pushed for deeper reductions in government outlays.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday estimated the bill – which would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and step up spending for the military and border security – will add about US$2.4 trillion to the US$36.2 trillion US debt pile.
Another non-partisan forecaster, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said on Wednesday that when taking interest payments into account the bill’s cost could rise to US$3 trillion over a decade or to US$5 trillion if temporary tax cuts were made permanent.
Musk, the world’s richest person who for several months led the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) cost-cutting effort, stepped up his attacks on the measure, joining with Senate Republican deficit hawks who said the version passed by the House of Representatives last month did not sufficiently cut spending.
“A new spending bill should be drafted that doesn’t massively grow the deficit,” Musk, the largest Republican donor in the 2024 election cycle, said on social media. “America is in the fast lane to debt slavery”.
Top congressional Republicans rejected his criticism and one White House official on Wednesday called the Tesla CEO’s moves “infuriating”.