US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he plans to negotiate aspects of the “big, beautiful” tax Bill, expressing dissatisfaction with certain provisions while being satisfied with others.
His comments followed billionaire Elon Musk’s criticism a day earlier, in which Mr Musk argued that the Bill detracts from efforts to reduce the US budget deficit.
“We will be negotiating that Bill, and I’m not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it,” Mr Trump told reporters, without directly addressing Mr Musk’s concerns.
He also emphasised the need to secure sufficient support for the Bill’s passage in the Senate, stating, “we can’t be cutting, you know, we need to get a lot of support”.
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In an interview with the CBS News Sunday Morning programme, broadcast on Tuesday, Mr Musk said he was “disappointed to see the massive spending Bill” because it increased the US budget deficit and undermined the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
“I think a Bill can be big or it can be beautiful. But I don’t know if it can be both,” Mr Musk said in the interview.
The White House intends to send Congress a small package as early as next week to formalise cuts made by Mr Musk’s team targeting federal government spending, a White House official familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.
For months, Republican lawmakers in the US Congress have been asking the administration to codify the federal spending cuts announced by Doge.
Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, was appointed by Mr Trump in February to lead his administration’s chaotic reform of the federal government as head of the newly created Doge.
The US House of Representatives last Thursday passed by a single vote the sweeping tax and spending Bill that would enact much of Mr Trump’s policy agenda and saddle the US with trillions of dollars more in debt.
Mr Trump and his fellow Republicans have dubbed the legislation the “big, beautiful Bill”. It will add about $3.8 trillion (€3.4 trillion) to the federal government’s $36.2 trillion debt over the next decade, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
The Bill pushes ahead with a number of Mr Trump’s campaign promises, including extending tax cuts for individuals and corporations and ending clean energy incentives enacted under Joe Biden.
It also involves about $1 trillion in cuts to benefits aimed at supporting struggling households, including a health insurance scheme for low-income families, Medicaid, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food stamps.
The Bill also funds the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico, as well as staff and facilities for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
The US Senate is now considering the measure.
A Doge website that claims it has saved US taxpayers billions of dollars has been riddled with errors and corrections. − Reuters/Guardian
