Republicans like House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have criticized Elon Musk for attacking President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” — but they’re making sure Musk hears that they still admire him.
“We obviously respect everything that Elon did with Doge,” Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. “On this particular issue, we have a difference of opinion.”
“I think [Musk’s] flat wrong,” Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana said during his weekly news conference Wednesday morning. “I think he’s way off on this.”
“I called Elon last night — he didn’t answer,” the Speaker added. “I hope to talk to him today.”
Musk, who was the de-facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and recently left the Trump administration, has spent the 24-plus hours mounting a campaign online to try and “kill” Republicans’ tax and Medicaid cuts legislation package. Musk, who argues the bill would not cut the federal deficit, said House Republicans who voted for the “disgusting abomination” of a bill last month should be “ashamed,” and called on the Republican Party to start from scratch.
“It’s disappointing that Elon Musk said what he said. It wasn’t helpful, but at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s gonna sway very much influence,” House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) said on Fox News on Wednesday morning.
“Mr. Musk is a brilliant guy. Very, very successful. And he’s also got resources. You wanna drill down and talk about specific things that we need to change, that’s great. But like I said: I can’t respond to platitudes,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), one of the senators who have expressed reservations about the spending bill because it would cut Inflation Reduction Act credits for clean energy manufacturing, told CNN.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday that the bill would add $2.4 trillion in federal deficits over ten years and lead to 16 million people losing their health insurance. Different factions of Senate Republicans — now buoyed by Musk’s comments — have pointed to concerns about both those aspects of the bill, and have vowed to significantly overhaul it. Trump and Johnson have warned against major revisions, and said the GOP cannot go back to the drawing board.
The party needs to pass a revised version of the legislation in the Senate and then send it back to the House for approval, where the bill barely passed the first time. The GOP is hoping to manage the balancing act and pass the package in the coming weeks — a task that could become more difficult with Musk, and potentially his army of supporters, railing against the legislation.
