Elon Musk reignites criticism of Trump's 'big beautiful bill' as Republicans narrowly pass vote

Australia Broadcast Center

4 hours ago

Billionaire Elon Musk has doubled down on his distaste for President Donald Trump's sprawling tax and spending cuts bill, hours before it was narrowly cleared in a last night Senate vote.
Senate Republicans on Saturday procedurally advanced the package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds before its July Fourth deadline.
The tally, 51-49, came after a tumultuous night with Vice President JD Vance at the Capitol to break a potential tie.
Tense scenes played out in the chamber as voting came to a standstill, dragging on for more than three hours as holdout senators huddled for negotiations, and took private meetings off the floor. In the end, two Republicans opposed the motion to proceed, joining all Democrats.
Hours before, Mr Musk took to social media to claim the latest draft will "destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country."
"It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future," he said of the nearly 1,000-page bill.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO later posted that the bill would be "political suicide for the Republican Party".
The criticisms reopen a recent fiery conflict between the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency and the administration he recently left.
They also represent yet another headache for Republican Senate leaders who are suing their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but they have run into a series of political and policy setbacks.
Not all Republican politicians are on board with proposals to reduce spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other programs as a way to help cover the cost of extending some $3.8 trillion in Trump tax breaks.
This is also not the first time Musk has made his opinions about Mr Trump's "big, beautiful bill" clear.
Days after he left the federal government last month with a laudatory celebration in the Oval Office, he blasted the bill as "pork-filled" and a "disgusting abomination".
"Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," Mr Musk wrote on X earlier this month.
In another post, the wealthy GOP donor who had recently forecasted that he'd step back from political donations threatened to fire lawmakers who "betrayed the American people".
When Mr Trump clapped back to say he was disappointed with Mr Musk, back-and-forth fighting erupted and quickly escalated.
Mr Musk suggested without evidence that Mr Trump, who spent the first part of the year as one of his closest allies, was mentioned in files related to sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr Musk ultimately tried to make nice with the administration, saying he regretted some of his posts that "went too far".
Mr Trump responded in kind in an interview with The New York Post, saying: "Things like that happen. I don't blame him for anything."
It's unclear how Mr Musk's latest broadsides will influence the fragile peace he and the president had enjoyed in recent weeks.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Mr Musk has spent recent weeks focused on his businesses, and his political influence has waned since he left the administration.
Still, the wealthy businessman poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Mr Trump's campaign in 2024, demonstrating the impact his money can have if he's passionate enough about an issue or candidate to restart his political spending.
Though he was silent on Mr Musk, Mr Trump laid on pressure and lashed out strongly at Republican holdouts in the Senate as politicians spent hours during the vote.
He accused Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina of seeking publicity with his no vote and threatened to campaign against the senator's re-election.
AP