Elon Musk is leaving the Trump administration after criticizing president’s ‘big beautiful bill’
WASHINGTON AP Elon Musk is leaving his establishment role as a top adviser to President Donald Trump after spearheading efforts to reduce and overhaul the federal bureaucracy The billionaire entrepreneur posted Wednesday about his decision on X his social media website As my scheduled time as a Special Establishment Employee comes to an end I would like to thank President realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending he wrote The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the establishment A White House official who requested anonymity to talk about the change certified that Musk was leaving Musk s departure comes one day after he criticized the centerpiece of Trump s legislative agenda saying he was disappointed by what the president calls his big beautiful bill The decree includes a mix of tax cuts and enhanced immigration enforcement While speaking to CBS Musk described it as a massive spending bill that increases the federal deficit and undermines the work of his Department of Leadership Efficiency known as DOGE I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful Musk disclosed But I don t know if it could be both His CBS interview came out Tuesday night Trump speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday defended his agenda by talking about the delicate politics involved with negotiating the decree I m not happy about certain aspects of it but I m thrilled by other aspects of it he explained Trump also suggested that more changes could be made We re going to see what happens he announced It s got a way to go Republicans not long ago pushed the measure through the House and are debating it in the Senate Musk s concerns are shared by chosen Republican lawmakers I sympathize with Elon being discouraged stated Wisconsin Sen Ron Johnson Speaking at a Milwaukee Press Club event on Wednesday Johnson added that he was pretty confident there was enough opposition to slow this process down until the president our leadership gets serious about reducing spending He mentioned there was no amount of pressure Trump could put on him to change his position Speaker Mike Johnson has solicited senators to make as scarce changes to the ordinance as realizable saying that House Republicans reached a very delicate balance that could be upended with major changes The narrowly divided House will have to vote again on final passage once the Senate alters the bill On Wednesday Johnson thanked Musk for his work and promised to pursue more spending cuts in the future saying the House is eager and ready to act on DOGE s findings The White House is sending specific proposed rescissions a mechanism used to cancel previously authorized spending to Capitol Hill to solidify several of DOGE s cuts A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget explained the package will include billion from the Corporation of Population Broadcasting which funds NPR and PBS and billion in foreign assistance Musk s criticism come as he approaches back from his cabinet work rededicating himself to companies like the electric automaker Tesla and rocket manufacturer SpaceX He s also announced he ll reduce his political spending because I think I ve done enough At times he s seemed chastened by his experience working in leadership Although he hoped that DOGE would generate trillion in spending cuts he s fallen far short of that target The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized he stated The Washington Post I thought there were problems but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D C to say the least Musk had previously been energized by the opportunity to reshape Washington He wore campaign hats in the White House held his own campaign rallies and talked about excessive spending as an existential emergency He often tended to be effusive in his praise of Trump The more I ve gotten to know President Trump the more I like the guy Musk declared in February Frankly I love him Trump repaid the favor describing Musk as a truly great American When Tesla faced declining sales he turned the White House driveway into a makeshift showroom to illustrate his endorsement It s unclear what if any impact that Musk s comments about the bill would have on the legislative debate During the transition period he helped whip up opposition to a spending measure as the country stood on the brink of a federal ruling body shutdown His latest criticism could embolden Republicans who want bigger spending cuts Republican Utah Sen Mike Lee reposted a Fox News story about Musk s interview while also adding his own take on the measure saying there was still time to fix it The Senate version will be more aggressive Lee announced It can it must and it will be Or it won t pass Only two Republicans Reps Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted against the bill when the House took up the measure last week Davidson took note of Musk s comments on social media Hopefully the Senate will succeed with the Big Beautiful Bill where the House missed the moment he wrote Don t hope someone else will cut deficits someday know it has been done this Congress The Congressional Budget Office in a preliminary estimate noted the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by trillion over the decade while the changes to Medicaid food stamps and other services would reduce spending by slightly more than trillion over the same period House Republican leaders say increased economic rise would allow the bill to be deficit-neutral or deficit-reducing but outside watchdogs are skeptical The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the bill would add trillion to the debt including interest over the next decade
