Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday mentioned Elon Musk’s sharp criticism of the get together’s large tax cuts and spending invoice is “terribly wrong.”
The feedback got here minutes after Musk torched the sprawling package deal on X, calling it “a disgusting abomination.”
“Let me say this: It’s very disappointing,” Johnson instructed reporters on the Capitol, later including: “With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the one big, beautiful bill.”
The Speaker mentioned he spoke to Musk by phone for greater than 20 minutes on Monday, a dialog that got here after the billionaire tech mogul final week mentioned he was “disappointed” with the laws.
“I extolled all the virtues of the bill, and he seemed to understand that. We had a very friendly conversation about it,” he mentioned, telling reporters in a while that the invoice is “A very important first start.”
“Elon is missing it, okay. And it’s not personal,” he added.
The Speaker instructed that opposition from Musk — the CEO of Tesla — is rooted in language within the invoice that eliminates electrical automobile tax credit enacted by Democrats in 2022.
“I know that the EV mandate is very important to him; that is going away because the government should not be subsidizing these things as part of the Green New Deal,” Johnson mentioned. “I know that has an effect on his business and I lament that. We talked about the ramp down period on that and how that should be duly considered by Congress.”
“But for him to come out and pan the whole bill is to me just very disappointing — very surprising, in light of the conversation I had with him yesterday,” he added.
Pressed on if he believes Tesla is prompting Musk’s posture, Johnson responded: “I’m gonna let others draw their own conclusions about that.”
“I just deeply regret that he’s made this mistake,” he added.
Musk dropped a grenade in GOP circles on Tuesday when he ratcheted up his criticism of the “big, beautiful bill” on X, slamming its price ticket.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” Musk wrote.
“It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt,” he added in a separate publish.
Final week, Musk mentioned he was “disappointed” with the invoice due to its price ticket, lamenting that the laws was undermining the work he did with the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
Musk’s criticism comes days after the billionaire tech mogul departed the White Home, and because the president is working to get the package deal enacted by the get together’s self-imposed July 4 deadline.
The laws handed by means of the Home in a slim 215-214-1 vote final month and is now within the Senate, the place Republicans need to make adjustments earlier than sending it again to the Home for last approval.
Trump performed a task in getting the invoice over the end line within the Home, talking with skeptical conservative till they bought on board. He’s starting to do the identical within the Senate, speaking with on-the-fence Republicans because the chamber begins diving into the measure.
Requested by The Hill if he’s frightened Musk’s feedback might unravel help for the laws, Johnson was stoic.
“No, I’m not worried about that,” the Speaker mentioned. “We have to get this job done and we will.”
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, equally, brushed apart Musk’s feedback.
“The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill, it doesn’t change the president’s opinion,” she mentioned Tuesday. “This is one big, beautiful bill and he’s sticking to it.”
