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WASHINGTON — Elon Musk’s push to “kill” President Trump’s “big beautiful bill” isn’t likely to change a single vote in the Senate — and it’s not going to stop the passage of the tax-and-spending spending plan, Republican aides tell the Post.
In fact, they suggested the former “first buddy’s” spectacular falling out with the president could make it even harder for Republican skeptics to push for bigger spending cuts.
“Until two days ago, Musk’s criticism of the bill gave Senate conservatives space to fight for improvements and deeper spending cuts in the BBB,” said one Republican aide.
“But nobody wants to kill the bill outright — it’s not going to happen.”
“The president supports this bill and this effort,” another added.
“I don’t think this back and forth will have any substantive effect on Senate Republicans.”
A third suggested that while Musk’s tantrum wasn’t changing lawmakers’ minds about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it was “giving good cover to those who have already come out swinging against it.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) declared Thursday that Musk was “on point” about the reconciliation bill’s budget-busting provisions.
“Last year in my Festivus Report, I exposed that in 2024 alone, Americans paid $892 [billion] in interest,” he posted on X.
“That’s 10% of the entire federal budget—gone. Not for bridges, schools, or healthcare. Just to keep the creditors at bay.”
A day earlier, fellow holdout Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) called the level of spending in the bill “grotesque” during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“The president and Senate leadership has to understand that we’re serious. They all say, ‘Oh, we can pressure these guys.’ No, you can’t,” Johnson said.
“I ran 2010 as part of the Tea Party Movement. We were mortgaging children’s future. We were $14 trillion in debt then now we’re over $37 trillion. We’re serious about this.”
Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have also expressed reservations, though the latter two have been more concerned with changes to Medicaid in the House-passed bill.
The legislation includes more than $1.5 trillion in spending reductions, a permanent extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for individuals, hundreds of billions in new spending for border security and national defense as well as stripping green-energy tax credits approved under the last administration.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that it will add $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade when factoring in its impact on interest on the debt.
Once the megabill clears the Senate, it will need to go through the House again before it can arrive on Trump’s desk.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) downplayed the feud’s impact on Republicans in the lower chamber and argued that Musk has “been using false information against the legislative bundle.
“You don’t need to watch soap operas to know what’s going on,” Scalise quipped to reporters. “He hasn’t moved a vote.”
“Ultimately, members of Congress know we’ve got to deliver,” he added. “So ultimately, you look at what’s in the bill and this bill delivers on border security, on energy security, on economic growth for working families and all the things that President Trump ran on and most importantly was given a mandate by the voters to deliver.”
The president unloaded on Musk in the Oval Office Thursday and said he had “Trump Derangement Syndrome” after serving just 130 days as a special government employee overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump admitted.
The two escalated their social media feud Thursday afternoon, with the president floating the elimination of Musk’s government “subsidies and contracts.”
“Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump erupted on Truth Social.
Musk shot back that the accusation was an “obvious lie” and went on a tweeting tirade against Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) by digging up old posts of theirs expressing concern about the national debt.
Senate Republicans currently hold a 53-47 vote advantage over Democrats in the upper chamber, meaning they can only lose three votes and still pass party-line legislation with Vice President JD Vance on hand to break any ties.
