Washington (AP) – Elon Musk criticizes the center play of President Donald Trump’s legislative program, an important fracture in a partnership that was forged during last year’s campaign and was about to reshape American policy and the federal government.
The billionaire entrepreneur, who supported Trump’s candidacy with at least $ 250 million and worked for his administration as a principal advisor, said that he was “disappointed” by what the president calls his “great magnificent bill”.
The legislation includes a mixture of tax reductions and strengthening immigration application. While speaking to CBS, Musk described it as a “massive expenditure bill” which increases the federal deficit and “undermines the work” of his ministry of efficiency of the government, known as Doge.
“I think that a bill can be great or that it could be beautiful,” said Musk. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”
His CBS interview was released on Tuesday evening. The White House officials did not immediately answer the questions. The Republicans recently pushed legislation to the House and debate it in the Senate.
Musk’s comments arrive while he is backing up from his government work, resuming companies like the electric manufacturer Tesla and the manufacturer of SpaceX rockets. He also said that he would reduce his political expenses, because “I think I did enough”.
Sometimes he seemed to chastise through his work experience in government. Although he hoped that Doge would generate 1 billion of dollars of expense discounts, he fell away from this goal.
“The situation of the federal bureaucracy is much worse than what I thought,” he told Washington Post. “I thought there were problems, but it is certainly a difficult battle while trying to improve things at DC, to say the least.”
Musk had previously been efficient with the opportunity to reshape Washington. He wore campaign hats in the White House, organized his own campaign rallies and spoke of excessive expenses as an existential crisis.
He was also efficient in his praise of Trump.
“The more President Trump, the more I liked the guy, said Musk at some point. “Frankly, I love it.”
Trump reimbursed the favor, describing Musk as “a really big American”. When Tesla faced a drop in sales, he transformed the alley of the White House into a makeshift exhibition hall to illustrate her support.
It is not known what is, if necessary, that Musk’s comments on the bill would have on the legislative debate. During the transition period, he helped to oppose a measure of expenses while the country was held at the edge of a closure of the federal government.
But Trump remains the dominant figure within the Republican Party, and many legislators did not want to cross the president when he exerts pressure for his program.
The Congressional Budget Office, in a preliminary estimate, said that the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by 3.8 billions of dollars during the decade, while the modifications made to Medicaid, to food coupons and other services would reduce the expenses of just over 1 billion of dollars in the same period.
The Republican leaders of the Chamber claim that increased economic growth would allow the bill to be a neutral or reduction deficit, but the external childcare dogs are skeptical. The responsible federal budget committee considers that the bill would add 3 billions of dollars to debt, including interest, during the next decade.
The author of the Associated Press Kevin Freking contributed.