Musk and hardline US Republicans ramp up attacks on Trump’s tax and spending Bill

WASHINGTON - Hardline conservative Republicans in the US Senate and billionaire Elon Musk showed no sign of softening opposition to US President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending Bill on June 4, as they pushed for deeper reductions in government outlays.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on June 4 estimated that the Bill – which would extend Mr Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and step up spending for the military and border security – would add US$2.4 trillion (S$3.1 trillion) to the US$36.2 trillion US debt pile.

Another non-partisan forecaster, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said on June 4 that when taking interest payments into account, the Bill’s cost could rise to US$3 trillion over a decade or US$5 trillion if the tax cuts were made permanent.

Mr Musk, the world’s richest person who for several months led the Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting effort, stepped up his attacks on the measure, joining Senate Republican deficit hawks who said the version passed by the House of Representatives in May did not sufficiently cut spending.

“A new spending Bill should be drafted that doesn’t massively grow the deficit,” Mr Musk, the largest Republican donor in the 2024 election cycle, said on his X social media platform. “America is in the fast lane to debt slavery.”

Top congressional Republicans rejected his criticism, and one White House official on June 4 called the Tesla chief executive’s moves “infuriating”.

Another White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, on June 4 said Mr Musk’s complaints represented “one disagreement” in an otherwise harmonious relationship, adding that Mr Trump was committed to getting the Bill passed despite Mr Musk’s stance.

Some Senate Republicans played down Mr Musk’s influence.

“I don’t think very many senators are that interested in what Elon has to say,” Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told reporters. “It’s amusing. But we’re serious policymakers. We have to govern, and so we have to deal with reality.”

Mr Musk joined Mr Trump’s team with brash promises of cutting US$2 trillion in spending from the federal budget, but left last week having accomplished a small fraction of that.

The House-passed Bill would reduce the federal government’s revenues by US$3.67 trillion over a decade, the CBO forecast, while reducing spending by US$1.25 trillion. The measure would also lift the federal government’s debt ceiling, a step that lawmakers must take some time this summer or risk a devastating default.

Narrow Senate path

With Republicans holding a narrow 53-47 Senate majority, just four “no” votes are enough to scupper any Bill that Democrats unite in opposing. The measure, named the “big, beautiful Bill”, faces opposition both from deficit hawks and a handful of rural-state Republicans worried about the scale of cuts to the Medicaid health insurance programme for low-income Americans.

“We’re at US$2 trillion in deficits,” said Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida. “We’re not going to get interest rates down or inflation under control if we don’t balance the budget.”

Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin criticised the Trump-backed Bill as failing to reverse the trajectory of budget deficits and debt. “The CBO score is a distraction,” Mr Johnson told reporters. “You’re arguing over twigs and leaves, when you’re ignoring the forest that’s on fire.”

The number of people in the US without health insurance would increase by 10.9 million by 2034 due to policy changes in the House Bill, the CBO said. Of that number, an estimated 1.4 million people would be undocumented immigrants who would no longer be covered in programmes funded by the states.

“This Bill has gone from bad to worse,” said Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, referring to the healthcare cuts.

The CBO update does not include a forecast on the potential macroeconomic effects of the legislation, which will be forthcoming. Republicans argue that extending existing tax cuts and adding new breaks, which are included in the House Bill, would further stimulate the economy.

They made similar arguments in 2017 that tax cuts would pay for themselves by stimulating economic growth, but the CBO estimates the changes increased the federal deficit by just under US$1.9 trillion over a decade, even when including positive economic effects.

The 1,100-page Bill would extend corporate and individual tax cuts passed in 2017 during Mr Trump’s first term in office, cancel many green-energy incentives passed by Democratic former president Joe Biden, and tighten eligibility for health and food programmes for the poor.

It also would fund Mr Trump’s crackdown on immigration, adding tens of thousands of border guards and creating the capacity to deport up to one million people each year. Regulations on firearm silencers would be loosened.

Democrats blast the Bill as disproportionately benefiting the wealthy while cutting benefits for working Americans. The measure is now awaiting action in the Senate.

The Republican-controlled Congress so far has not rejected any of Mr Trump’s legislative requests. REUTERS