In the wake of the public spat between United States President Donald Trump and mega-billionaire Elon Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson has downplayed the latter’s influence over the Republican-controlled Congress.
Johnson hopes Trump can mend his relationship with Musk.
But during an angry social media tit for tat between the two, Trump made it clear he has no desire to repair his relationship with largest donor of the 2024 presidential campaign.
It’s understood that Musk spent around US$200 million helping propel Trump into the White House.
In a rare bout of uncharacteristic chutzpah, the Republican House Leader said that Musk's criticism of the Republicans' massive tax and budget policy bill – aka The Big Beautiful Bill - will not derail the measure.
“I didn’t go out to craft a piece of legislation to please the richest man in the world, what we’re trying to do is help hard working Americans,” Johnson said.
Shortly after receiving a key to the White House in a parting ceremony at the Oval Office, Musk lashed out at Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, describing it as an “abomination” that would add to U.S. debt and threaten economic stability.
Musk has also urged voters to flood Capitol Hill with calls to vote against the measure, which is pending in the Senate after narrowly clearing the House.
While Johnson has pooh-poohed Musk's threats to finance opponents — even Democrats — of Trump's bill, Trump also warned Musk of “very serious consequences” if he proceeded to do so.
“We’ve got almost no calls to the offices, any Republican member of Congress,” Johnson said.
“And I think that indicates that people are taking a wait and see attitude. Some who may be convinced by some of his arguments, but the rest understand: this is a very exciting piece of legislation.”
Meanwhile, Johnson, together with other Republicans, including Trump's White House budget chief, continue to contest forecasts that suggest the Big Beautiful Bill will add to annual deficits and compound a national debt already climbing toward US$40 trillion.
Based on forecasts by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Big Beautiful Bill – which extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts – will leave around 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by US$2.4 trillion over the decade.
However, Republicans remain adamant that lower taxes and spending cuts will ignite the economic growth that will see deficits fall.
Meanwhile, Russell Vought, leader of the White House Office of Budget and Management, claims that CBO analysts base their models of “artificial baselines”.
