Describing it as a “disgusting abomination,” Elon Musk has attacked President Donald Trump’s hallmark tax and expenditure plan, deepening the gulf between the two friends.
Last month the House of Representatives enacted the budget, which lets the US government borrow more money and comprises multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and higher defense expenditure.
“Shame on those who voted for it,” Musk said in an X post on the legislative cornerstone of Trump’s second-term agenda.
After 129 days working with his team, known as Doge, the tech billionaire left the government suddenly last week in order to save expenses.
Having earlier described the proposal as “disappointing,” the remarks were his first public criticism of Trump since leaving office.
Though Trump said that “he will, always, be with us, helping all the way”, the tech billionaire born in South Africa’s tenure in the Trump administration came to an end on May 31.
Under its present form, the measure—which Trump refers to as the “big beautiful bill—has been projected to widen the budget deficit—the difference between government expenditure and income—by roughly $600 billion (£444 billion) in the next fiscal year.
Inquired about Musk’s remarks shortly following the original tweet, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded “the President already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
“This is one, huge, beautiful bill,” she said. And he’s sticking to it.
The law also promises to support the administration’s huge deportations of illegal immigrants and to extend soon-to-expire tax cuts passed during the first Trump administration in 2017 as well as an injection of money for defense expenditure.
Fiscal conservatives would be dismayed to see the debt ceiling—the restriction on the amount of money the government can borrow—raised to $4 trillion.
Musk’s comments capture larger Republican divisions about the proposal, which encountered strong opposition from many party factions as it moved through the House.
Now the Senate has picked it up, differences are already developing in that body, also under Republican limited control.
Over the past few days, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has stated he will oppose the measure should it increase the debt ceiling.
Musk was hoping it would be operated on his Starlink satellite system, but he was denied due of technological problems and the seeming conflict of interest, the political outlet said.
Though they had earlier attacked Musk and his work, some Democrats welcomed his remarks.
“Even Elon Musk, who’s been part of the whole process, and is one of Trump’s buddies, said the bill is bad,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer remarked. “We can image how bad this bill is.”
Trump and Republicans in Congress have set a deadline of 4 July to get the package passed and signed into law.
With contributions of more than $250 million, Musk helped Trump in the November elections last year.
Trump is also asking Congress to approve a proposal that would cut present expenditure by $9.4 billion, a figure calculated from Doge’s work, so fostering peace with spending hawks.
