For months, Elon Musk was the toast of the town for Republicans.
His visits to the Capitol were jammed with GOP lawmakers eager to hitch their wagon to his Department of Government Efficiency initiative and the billionaire’s call for dramatic cuts in federal spending.
Republicans jostled to get into meetings with him. They eagerly took pictures by his side. They praised his moves to slash federal jobs.
But this week, when Musk publicly turned on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” by labeling it a “disgusting abomination,” most GOP lawmakers said nothing.
“I think he’s flat wrong,” U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters. “I’ve told him as much.”
But just minutes after Johnson’s rebuke, the Congressional Budget Office confirmed Musk’s charge, reporting that the House GOP tax bill would add $2.4 trillion to the debt over 10 years.
Are there budget cuts in the GOP plan? Absolutely. It saves about $1.6 trillion over 10 years, mainly from cuts in Medicaid and federal food aid. But much of that savings is offset by new spending and new tax cuts.
For example, the GOP’s bill includes $350 billion in new spending split between the military and immigration enforcement.
Trump’s new tax plans also impact the bottom line.
His promise to eliminate taxes on tips costs $40 billion. Getting rid of the tax on overtime pay is $125 billion. Trump’s pledge to stop taxing Social Security benefits was replaced with a larger tax deduction for senior citizens at a price tag of $66 billion.
But the cost for those three new Trump tax cuts is a bit misleading because they expire after 2028, meaning they last only three years, not 10 years like everything else.
A new tax credit for car loan interest costs $58 billion. A bigger deduction for state and local taxes is $320 billion. You get the picture.
While Republicans gritted their teeth about Musk’s attack on the giant GOP tax and budget bill, at the same time, they warmly embraced his DOGE budget cuts, some of which will get a vote next week in the House.
The plan finally sent to Congress by the White House would claw back $9.4 billion in already approved spending. Over $8 billion comes from various foreign aid accounts, plus just over $1 billion from public radio and television.
“Things like NPR — you’re gone,” said Georgia U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson.
Unfortunately, the $9.4 billion cut is just a drop in the bucket of red ink that’s threatening to overwhelm Uncle Sam, with the federal deficit this year heading toward $2 trillion.
“Simple math,” Musk said this week in calling for lower deficits. But the Republican plan is not moving in that direction.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C., since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
