Elon Musk is once again slamming U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called “big beautiful bill,” calling the budget proposal “utterly insane” and “destructive,” claiming that it will damage future business prospects, cause millions of job losses and lead to tax hikes.
Musk said the bill will “cause immense strategic harm” to the U.S. and raise operational costs in the solar, wind, battery, geothermal and nuclear industries. It would also likely impact his Tesla energy division, which sells and installs both battery energy storage systems and solar panels.
On Monday afternoon, he posted again, writing, “It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!! Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.”
Musk’s latest wave of criticism came as the bill went through provisional rounds of voting in Congress over the weekend, and weeks after the tech-billionaire first laid into the proposed legislation, kicking off a public, seemingly relationship-ending feud between him and Trump.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on X on June 3.
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“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
The president, answering questions in the Oval Office on June 5, escalated the feud with his former special government employee, saying he was “very surprised” at Musk’s repeated attacks on his centrepiece budget bill.
Trump added that a lot of people who leave his administration “miss it so badly” and “actually become hostile.”
“It’s sort of Trump derangement syndrome, I guess they call it,” he said. “I’ll be honest, I think he missed the place. He got out there, and all of a sudden he wasn’t in this beautiful Oval Office.”
Days later, Musk said he regretted some of his remarks.
Congress will continue to vote on amendments to the bill through Monday, which proposes funding cuts to social safety nets, including Medicaid and food aid programs, while aiming to finance Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown. It will also slash financial backing for green energy projects and likely pile trillions of dollars onto the national debt, if passed.
Republicans are cutting federally funded social programs as a way to help cover the cost of extending some $3.8 trillion in Trump tax breaks put in place during his first term.
Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office analysis also found that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill becomes law.
The legislation also claims to offer some new benefits for working class and middle-class Americans with tax cuts and the expansion of take-home pay by up to $10,000 annually. According to its website, the bill seeks to broaden child-care access, increase the child-care tax credit and create newborn savings accounts.
Musk and Trump’s highly publicized spat has died down in recent weeks. The president has not yet responded to Musk’s latest remarks.
— With files from The Associated Press and Global News’ Michelle Butterfield
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