Elon Musk says President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is a “disgusting abomination.” Republicans on Capitol Hill are making clear that they don’t really care.
“I think he’s flat wrong,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. “I think he’s way off on this.”
“We have a difference of opinion,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s entitled to that opinion, we’re going to proceed full speed ahead.”
It’s a far cry from December, when Musk, then the incoming de facto leader of the White House DOGE Office, helped generate an online pressure campaign that swiftly tanked a government funding bill. That episode was a dramatic sign of the tech titan’s burgeoning influence in Washington, suggesting that GOP lawmakers would be taking his cues — perhaps as much as they took Trump’s — in the months to come.
Now no longer leading DOGE, Musk has returned to being another outside voice. Fiscal hawks who agree with him don’t mind getting a little backup. Other Republicans are happy to brush him off.
“Elon, of course, is the wealthiest man in the world, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s wrong or he’s right. He has an opinion, just like the rest of us,” Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told BI. “I don’t think it’s gonna move the needle in any direction.”
Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has continued to pressure Republicans to support the bill, and the White House has said that those who vote against it should face primary challenges.
Trump himself has not yet responded to Musk, though Johnson told reporters that the president is “not delighted that Elon did a 180” on the bill.
Musk’s broadside against the bill, according to him, is about its impact on the debt.
Multiple forecasters who have analyzed the bill, including the Congressional Budget Office and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, have estimated that the current version of the bill would add more than $2 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. Musk has argued that this undermines DOGE, which has been trying to significantly reduce federal spending.
Republicans were already arguing about this amongst themselves. Fiscal conservatives like Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin say that the version of the bill that passed the House last month adds too much to the debt, and they’re now seeking to amend it.
Most Republicans, however, have argued that outside projections about the bill’s impact on the debt are flawed and don’t account for potential economic growth as a result of the bill’s eventual passage.
Even those who agree with Musk don’t seem to believe that his comments will strengthen their hand that much. “Sure, it helps bolster the case,” Sen. Ron Johnson told reporters of Musk’s tweet. “But again, the President wants to balance the budget as well.”
Perhaps the biggest reason why Musk’s comments are unlikely to tank the bill: It’s the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda, and it’s simply too important to them.
The bill includes a permanent extension of tax cuts that Trump and Republicans first enacted in 2017, contains new funding for border security and immigration enforcement, and is chock full of other GOP priorities that they’re not going to give up simply because of Musk’s concern about the deficit.
“All the things that are in this bill are so important for the US economy, it’s going to be jet fuel for the US economy,” Speaker Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. “The risk of not getting it done is enormous, not just for the Republican Party, but for the country. We’ve got to do this.”
The government funding bill that Musk helped tank in December, on the other hand, was a bipartisan piece of legislation that included all kinds of provisions that Republicans don’t agree with. Plenty of fiscal conservatives planned to vote against it anyway, and Musk’s involvement strengthened their case, eventually making it untenable for Speaker Johnson to move forward with it.
Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, the chairman of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, voted “present” when the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed the House last month.
He told reporters on Wednesday that he hopes senators keep Musk’s criticism “in mind” as they make changes to the bill, but he didn’t predict that it would change much.
“He doesn’t have to change the dynamic,” Harris told BI. “I’m glad that he reminded people that the federal deficit is of grave concern.”
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