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Elon Musk’s fiery feud with President Donald Trump spilled onto the top Republicans in Congress, where the tech billionaire questioned if their zeal to cut spending had disappeared.
Musk launched into a social media assault this week against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” and accused Republicans of crafting a “disgusting abomination” full of wasteful spending.
What started as a rant against the bill turned into pointed attacks against Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
‘HE’S NOT A BIG FACTOR’: TRUMP’S SENATE ALLIES DISMISS ELON MUSK’S CALLS TO ‘KILL THE BILL’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., left, is signaling that some changes are likely to the House’s version of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” (Getty Images)
The tech billionaire and former head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) lamented the bill as not cutting deep enough into Washington’s spending addiction. The House GOP’s offering, which is now being modified in the Senate, set a goal of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
Musk set a benchmark of finding $2 trillion in waste, fraud and abuse to slash with his DOGE initiative, but fell far short, hitting only $160 billion in his four-month stint as a special government employee.
ELON MUSK WARPATH AGAINST TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ RATTLES HOUSE GOP
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, and tech billionaire Elon Musk. (AP)
Still, he came with receipts, questioning whether Trump, Thune and Johnson were actually committed to making deep cuts.
Below are moments from the campaign trail and recent months compiled by Fox News Digital where the trio affirmed their commitment to putting a dent in the nation’s nearly $37 trillion debt.
Trump on the trail in 2024: ‘We will stop wasteful spending’
A common theme for Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign was to go after the Biden administration, and his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, for “throwing billions of dollars out the window.”
The then-presidential candidate vowed that should he win a second term, his incoming administration would halt wasteful spending.
“We will stop wasteful spending and big government special interest giveaways, and finally stand up for the American taxpayer, which hasn’t happened since I was president,” he said. “We stood up. Our current massive deficits will be reduced to practically nothing. Our country will be powered by growth. Our country, will be powered by growth, will pay off our debt, will have all this income coming in.”
GOP SENATORS EXPRESS ‘CONCERNS,’ ‘SKEPTICISM’ OVER TRUMP’S SPENDING BILL AFTER MUSK RANT
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is leader of a 53-seat Republican majority in the Senate and faces concerns from some GOP colleagues about the size of the budget plan. (Reuters)
Thune renews promise to cut spending with Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’: ‘It does everything we set out to do’
Thune has agreed with his colleagues in the House GOP that the tax cut package needs to achieve steep savings, and believes that the Senate GOP could take those cuts a step further. After the bill advanced from the House last month, the top Senate Republican re-upped his vow to slash federal funding.
“It does everything that we set out to do. It modernizes our military, secures our border, extends tax relief and makes permanent tax relief that will lead to economic growth and better jobs in this country, and makes America energy dominant, coupled with the biggest spending reduction in American history,” he said. “So those are our agenda items, and that’s what we campaigned on. That’s what we’re going to do.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he was “surprised” by Elon Musk’s criticism of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (Associated Press)
Johnson after the House’s passage of the budget plan: ‘What you’re going to see is a continuing theme of us identifying waste, fraud and abuse in government’
Johnson had to strike a balancing act in the House to cobble together enough support behind the legislation, and struck deals and satisfied concerned lawmakers across the spectrum of the House GOP while still setting a goal of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. Rooting out waste, fraud and abuse has been a continued mantra of the speaker and his allies.
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“I said this is the beginning of a process, and what you’re going to see is a continuing theme of us identifying waste, fraud and abuse in government, which is our pledge of common sense, restoring common sense and fiscal sanity,” Johnson said.
