Elon Musk expressed dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump's giant tax bill, saying it undercut his efforts to slash government spending.
Musk, who has announced he's stepping back from his Department of Government Efficiency — a body that quickly became an exponent of the second Trump administration's vision — told CBS News in an interview that he was "disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing."
The legislation, which Trump calls his "big, beautiful bill" and includes an array of tax cuts, will go to the Senate after it narrowly passed the House last week. Musk, the billionaire chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, seemed to echo the concerns of some Republicans in the House and Senate who believe the legislation costs too much and demand more spending reductions.
"We are so far away from an acceptable bill, it's hard to say," said Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, when asked when his chamber could complete its work.
Other Republicans, however, not only oppose further cuts, but object to provisions already in the House version, such as restricting Medicaid benefits and the swift elimination of clean-energy tax incentives.
"I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful," Musk said in an excerpt of the interview released on Tuesday night before its broadcast on CBS Sunday Morning this weekend. "But I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion."
