Billionaire Elon Musk stepped up his criticism of Donald Trump's tax bill on Thursday (June 5) prompting the U.S. president to fire back, alleging Musk was upset because the bill takes away tax benefits for electric vehicle purchases, Reuters reports.
Musk, the world's richest man and a key figure in the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) cost-cutting plan for several months, has blasted the bill, after he decided to spend less time in the White House and instead focus on his companies.
Trump lashed out on Thursday against Elon Musk, saying he was "disappointed" by the billionaire's public opposition to the sweeping tax-cut and spending bill that is at the heart of Trump's agenda.
Several fiscally conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate supported the views Musk expressed in social media posts, which could complicate the bill's path to passage in that chamber.
Musk's comments hit a nerve. Republican deficit hawks have expressed concerns about the cost of the bill, which would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump's main legislative accomplishment, while boosting spending on the military and border security.
Previously, U.S. President Donald Trump had praised Musk's efforts to cut federal spending as the Tesla CEO departed the administration after a chaotic tenure that saw the elimination of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in contracts.
Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency, disrupted numerous agencies across the federal bureaucracy but ultimately fell far short of the massive savings he had initially promised.
Musk has said he intends to devote most of his energy to his business empire, including Tesla and SpaceX, after some investors expressed concern that DOGE was occupying too much of his time.
He has also said he plans to ratchet back his political spending, after he spent nearly $300 million backing Trump's presidential campaign and those of other Republicans in 2024.
Musk initially claimed DOGE would slash at least $2 trillion in federal spending. Four months into its efforts, DOGE now estimates it has saved $175 billion.
But the details it has posted on its website, where it gives the only public accounting of those changes, add up to less than half of that figure.
U.S. Treasury summaries reviewed by Reuters show that the agencies targeted by DOGE have cut about $19 billion in combined spending compared to the same period last year, far below Musk's original target and amounting to just about a half of 1% of total federal expenditures.
After announcing his departure, Musk said he would continue to serve as a Trump adviser and expressed confidence that DOGE would eventually achieve much deeper savings.
"This is not the end of DOGE but really the beginning," he said.
