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Elon Musk’s tirade against President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” has forced House Republicans to scramble to respond on Wednesday.
GOP lawmakers who had spent months praising Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts are now working to avoid a war of words with the tech billionaire as he calls on them to scrap months of work in favor of a new budget reconciliation bill.
“He didn’t make it any easier for the bill,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital.
He noted that the bill also had its opponents in the Senate, where at least three fiscal hawks are calling for deeper cuts than the recent version passed by the House, which rolls back roughly $1.5 trillion in federal spending over 10 years. Fitzgerald questioned, however, what Musk’s endgame was.
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“If it was to truly kill the bill, then – I get it, he’s not an elected official – but you never really make such a bold statement without having a Plan B, and clearly, there’s no Plan B,” he said.
House GOP lawmakers have for the most part, however, appeared in agreement on Musk ultimately having little impact on their actions.
“I don’t think he carries the same kind of gravitas that he did,” Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said.
Another House Republican told Fox News Digital, “When he’s not standing by the president’s side, he doesn’t have the same weight.”
Congressional Republicans are working to pass a mammoth bill advancing Trump’s priorities on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt via the budget reconciliation process.
Reconciliation allows the party in power to totally sideline opposition – in this case, Democrats – to pass a sweeping piece of fiscal legislation by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51.
But there are rules and limitations for what can be included in the budget reconciliation process. House GOP leaders say they will seek to codify spending cuts identified by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) via the annual congressional appropriations process.
That has not stopped Musk from unleashing his fury against the bill over the money it could add to the already $36 trillion-and-counting federal debt.
“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL,” Musk wrote on X, among other posts.
The Tesla founder made a veiled threat against lawmakers’ seats as well, “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.”
House GOP leaders and the White House, meanwhile, have closed ranks around the bill.
“I want Elon and all my friends to recognize the complexity of what we’ve accomplished here. This extraordinary piece of legislation – record number of savings, record tax cuts for the American people and all the other benefits in it,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters in response to Musk.
“We worked on the bill for almost 14 months. You can’t go back to the drawing board, and we shouldn’t. We have a great product to deliver here.”
But Musk’s comments appear to have created a difficult political situation for some fiscal hawks who aired concerns about the bill before ultimately voting for it after GOP leaders made some last-minute changes tightening Medicaid work requirements and green energy subsidy cutbacks.
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“I wish [Musk] had been cheering from the stands before we had the vote, that would have helped us, but we are where we are,” House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., who fought for more conservative changes, told reporters.
He side-stepped a question on whether he was worried about election threats from Musk.
“I’m going to be – I hope that Elon continues to stay in this fight because I’m philosophically aligned with him, with his effort to try to balance this budget,” Burlison said.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, meanwhile, said he believes Musk is wrong but conceded his opinion mattered to at least part of the GOP base.
“The challenge is, he’s a he’s a credible guy, and he’s done, a patriotic service,” Arrington said, referring to DOGE. I just think he’s just wrong about his comments that mischaracterize the one big, beautiful bill.”
“So to say that it’s a problem or that it has created a bigger challenge for us, is true. Because he’s got a big voice, he’s got a big audience. And more importantly, it’s a credible voice. But he’s wrong on this issue.”
Conservative Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said, “I would have preferred that he not go the direction that he went…maybe it was to encourage Congress to get on the ball with these rescissions packages that are coming.”
The White House, meanwhile, has stood by the bill.
“The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
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