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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is rebuffing Elon Musk’s call for a brand-new budget reconciliation bill, deepening the tech billionaire’s rift with Republicans in Washington.
“A new spending bill should be drafted that doesn’t massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS,” Musk wrote on X Wednesday.
He ratcheted up his rhetoric shortly after, posting, “KILL the BILL.”
But Johnson said the timeline was working against Congress and that an overhaul of President Donald Trump’s massive agenda bill was unfeasible.
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Johnson said when asked for a response by Fox News, “We don’t have time for a brand new 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,” the speaker told reporters.
“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.”
Johnson cautioned critics of the bill not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
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“We’re proud of this product. The House Republicans are proud of it, and we’re happy to go out and explain that to everybody,” Johnson said.
The Louisiana Republican said during a press conference earlier that he was “surprised” by Musk’s criticism.
The speaker previously also pointed out that Republicans are planning to codify spending cuts identified by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a different vehicle than the reconciliation process.
Musk has been bearing down hard on the legislation, putting Republican lawmakers in a difficult spot after months of lauding his work with DOGE.
The massive bill passed by the House and currently being considered by the Senate advances Trump’s priorities on taxes, immigration, energy, defense, and the debt limit.
It passed the House 215 – 214 with all but three House Republicans not voting “yes.”
House GOP leaders, noting their slim margins, have urged the Senate to change as little as possible in the bill. But the Senate GOP has its own razor-thin majority, and lawmakers there have already signaled they want to see at least some changes.
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,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
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