Musk takes Trump agenda bill criticism to next level

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5 months ago

Musk takes Trump agenda bill criticism to next level

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Plus: Gay rights activist’s name ordered removed from Navy ship

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ELON MUSK UNLOADED on President Trump’s agenda bill Tuesday, with fiscal hawks in the Senate digging in and promising to sink the legislation.

Musk, whose time as a special government employee came to an end last week, received a stylish Oval Office send-off from Trump for his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash spending.

The tech titan bit his tongue during the presidential salute last week when the issue of spending in the GOP’s agenda bill came up.

But he cut loose on Tuesday, and at a critical time for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which faces a tricky path through the Senate amid mounting concerns about spending and the deficit.

“I’m sorry but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk posted on his social media platform X. “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.”

Musk later threatened to oust lawmakers who fail to codify cuts made by DOGE, among other issues.

“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” he posted.

Musk’s remarks came as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was in the middle of a press briefing.

“The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” Leavitt said. “It doesn’t change the president’s opinion.”

Musk had previously expressed frustration with House Republicans for the trillions in debt the bill is forecast to create.

Those concerns are shared by several Republicans in the Senate, led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who says he will not vote for the bill because it raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-Ky.) can only afford to lose three Republicans for the bill to pass, and Paul says there are at least four on his side.

“I want to see the tax cuts made permanent, but I also want to see the $5 trillion in new debt removed from the bill,” Paul posted this morning, one of several social media posts and media appearances he made to blast the bill.

Paul and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) appeared energized by Musk speaking out, reposting his comments with their own words of opposition.

“These numbers are nothing short of stunning,” Lee said. “Congress has hollowed out America’s middle class through reckless deficit spending and the inflation it causes.”

The fiscal hawks have pointed to wobbles in the bond market, where yields are on the rise amid concerns about U.S. debt and Trump’s trade war.

“It’s a big deal. It is a real problem,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business Network. “The bond markets are going to have a tough time.”

Trump fired back at Paul in a post on Truth Social.

“Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous growth that is coming,” Trump said, referring to his agenda bill. “He loves voting ‘no’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big winner!!!”

For his part, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Musk is “terribly wrong,” adding he spoke to the billionaire about it for 20 minutes on Monday.

“For him to come out and pan the whole bill is to me just very disappointing, very surprising in light of the conversation I had with him yesterday,” Johnson said.

The White House sent its recissions package to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. It seeks to claw back just under $10 billion, much of it from funding for NPR, PBS and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Trump has been actively involved in discussions with GOP senators, already holding talks with Thune and Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) this week.

Hawley is concerned about potential cuts to Medicaid, while Johnson is among the fiscal hawks opposing the bill over spending and debt.

Hawley says Trump told him there would be no “Medicaid benefit cuts,” as the Trump administration makes the case that cuts to the program will only affect those in the country illegally or people who are capable of working but choose not to.

CRITICAL WEEK AHEAD

It’s a big week for Senate Republicans, who have a self-imposed deadline of July 4 to pass Trump’s agenda bill.

Thune said he won’t overrule the Senate parliamentarian, who will decide soon whether the bill adheres to rules that would allow Republicans to bypass a Democratic filibuster.

Some Senate Republicans argue that decision should be up to Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

And the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will release its growth projections under the bill, which is expected to add $2.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

The Trump administration argues that debt forecasts don’t account for the growth the bill will unleash.

The White House has taken to blasting the CBO, which it says has repeatedly been wrong with its forecasts. Leavitt on Tuesday said the nonpartisan CBO is run by Democrats, citing past campaign donations.

💡Perspectives:

• Wall Street Journal: Don’t just fix higher education, reconstitute it.

• The Hill: Presidential health cover-ups are as American as apple pie.

• The Hill: Why we left California.

• The Liberal Patriot: Understanding America’s communities.

Read more:

• Trump administration extends tariff pause on Chinese-made chips.

• ‘Donors’ vs ‘takers’: SALT battle stirs debate between blue and red states.

• Speaker Johnson launches sales mission for ‘big, beautiful bill’.

CATCH UP QUICK

The Department of Justice is reviewing pardons doled out under former President Biden, citing concerns about whether Biden himself was making decisions about clemency power.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to rename an oil ship named after gay rights activist Harvey Milk, a move that comes at the start of Pride Month.
The Food and Drug Administration upgraded its recall on tomatoes to the most severe level.

NEWS THIS AFTERNOON

Dem generational tensions to play out in midterms

Democratic tensions over the party’s aging leadership is set to play out in the midterm elections of 2026, with several top lawmakers pulling younger primary challengers.

Among the Democratic lawmakers facing primaries from upstart candidates: Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), 85; former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), 85; and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), 70.

Former Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), 81, announced her retirement earlier this year after pulling a 26-year old primary challenger.

Age has been a growing topic of discussion among congressional Democrats, and three House Democrats have died in office this year.

The Hill’s Julia Muller writes: “The trend comes amid renewed anxiety within the party over the issue of age, spurred by new revelations about former President Biden and the recent deaths of several older House members.”

One key early test will come later this month in the battle to replace former Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) as the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), 44, threw her hat in the ring on Tuesday. The other candidates vying for the position range in age from 47 to 76.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) set a September special election election to replace Connolly, who died of cancer last month. The seat has been blue since Connolly first won it in 2008.

This comes as Democrats are seeking a new identity during President Trump’s second term in office, after the 2024 election found the nation tilt to the right.

Trump this week reiterated his support for Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the New Jersey governor’s primary, saying the state is “ready to pop out of that blue horror show” and elect a Republican.

Trump lost New Jersey by 6 points in 2024, after losing it by 16 points in 2020. The state last went red in a presidential election in 1988.

MEANWHILE…

CNN’s polling analyst Harry Enten underscored Democratic struggles with the middle class voters they once counted as a core constituency.

“[Democrats] have traditionally been the party of the middle class. No more,” Enten said. “Donald Trump and the Republican Party have taken that mantle away. And now a key advantage for Democrats historically has gone. Adios amigos. And now there is no party that is the party of the middle class. Republicans have completely closed the gap.”

Democrats have turned their attacks on immigration, where Trump polls the strongest, making the case that the administration’s overreach is imperiling American citizens.

Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) are demanding an investigation after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers pushed their way into Nadler’s office and handcuffed one of his staffers.

The incident began after protesters at an immigration court were permitted entrance to Nadler’s office, which is in the same building.

The DHS accused Nadler’s office of “harboring rioters” and briefly detained one of his staffers.

“These types of intimidation tactics are completely unwarranted and cannot be tolerated,” Nadler and Raskin wrote. “The decision to enter a congressional office and detain a congressional staff member demonstrates a deeply troubling disregard for proper legal boundaries.”

And Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka (D) on Tuesday sued interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba over his arrest last month outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.

The lawsuit alleges false arrest, malicious prosecution and defamation, and accuses Habba of acting as a “political operative, outside of any function intimately related to the judicial process.”

Baraka and three Democratic members of the New Jersey congressional delegation — Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver — were visiting the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark last month when a scuffle broke out between them and several ICE officers.

Baraka was charged with misdemeanor trespassing, although Habba’s office later dismissed the charge and instead charged McIver with assaulting law enforcement.

ELSEWHERE…

The Trump administration is also keying in on immigration, emphasizing it after the anti-semitic attack in Boulder, Colo., over the weekend.

The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, is an Egyptian national who was granted asylum in 2022 but overstayed his visa in February 2023.

“This tragedy is a sobering reminder of the consequences of the Biden administration’s failed policies,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

“This is the predictable result of allowing anti-American radicals and illegal immigrants pour into our country,” she added.

The family of the suspect is set to be taken into federal custody, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday. DHS is revamping its ICE tip line following the attack.

Soliman allegedly shouted “Free Palestine” as he used a flame thrower and threw Molotov cocktails at a group of people who were marching in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Twelve victims between the ages of 52 and 88, including a survivor of the Holocaust, were badly burned. Three people remain hospitalized.

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: The Democrats’ new campaign agenda: No more Mister Nice Guy.

• The Hill: The missing middle class puts Democrats in a ‘big beautiful’ bind.

• New York: Andrew Cuomo isn’t strong. His opponents are weak.

• Salon: Progressives paved the way for Trump’s attack on judiciary.

• Washington Monthly: Dems need a vision for reviving American dream.

Read more:

• Trump team emphasizes immigration in Boulder response.

• Rubio leading negotiations with Bukele on returning migrants.

• Cornyn trailing Paxton by 22 points in Texas Senate polling.

• Cuomo says he shouldn’t have resigned as governor.

• New York lieutenant governor launches primary challenge against Hochul.

IN OTHER NEWS

Roundup: Trump leans into transgender issues

President Trump says he’ll impose “large scale fines” after a transgender athlete won two high school track and field championships in California over the weekend.

Trump had warned California not to allow Jurupa Valley junior AB Hernandez to compete, saying it violated his executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports.

California allowed Hernandez to compete in the finals, but also opened the competition to more female athletes who would otherwise have been eliminated.

The New York Times reports that the Justice Department is threatening legal action against California schools, arguing the state violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and discriminated against athletes on the basis of sex.

Meanwhile, the FBI is asking citizens to report health care providers who may be assisting transgender minors with gender-affirming care, which has been outlawed in 27 states.

“We will protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of gender-affirming care,” the FBI posted on its social media account.

A judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from cutting off gender-affirming care for inmates.

• Ukrainian officials said Tuesday they struck a bridge that connects Russia to Crimea with underwater explosives.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) used 1,100 kilograms of explosives to hit the overpass, which is used as a supply route by Russian forces.

“Crimea is Ukraine, and any manifestations of occupation will receive our harsh response,” Lieutenant General Vasyl Maliuk, the chairman of the SBU, said in a statement.

This comes after Ukraine stunned the world by pulling off “Operation Spider Web,” using smuggled drones to bomb nuclear-armed air bases deep inside Russian territory.

And it comes one day after Ukrainian and Russian officials met in Istanbul, where they failed to reach a ceasefire deal but agreed on a prisoner swap.

Some Republican senators are agitating for a new round of sanctions on Russia, although they’re waiting for the green light from Trump.

“He’s willing to use sanctions if he needs them,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

MEANWHILE…

Trump on Tuesday denied media reports that a proposed deal with Iran would allow the nation to continue enriching uranium.

“Under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!” Trump posted on social media.

Axios reported that U.S. officials gave Iran a proposal for a nuclear agreement that would allow low-level uranium enrichment on Iranian soil for an undetermined amount of time.

💡Perspectives:

• USA Today: Transgender athletes turn girls’ track meets into a farce.

• Responsible Statecraft: Ukraine, Russia show no interest in peace.

• MSNBC: Ukraine’s drone attack was a humiliating blow to Russia.

• The Hill: Rubio declares war on global censors.

• TK

Read more:

• Trump administration asks SCOTUS to lift judge’s block on mass layoffs.

• Trump pardons Florida divers who freed sharks.

• Harvard moves to unfreeze $2.5B in federal funding.

• Education Department pausing plan to garnish Social Security checks over defaulted loans.

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