President Donald Trump dismissed criticism from Elon Musk, his billionaire donor and adviser, over the cost of his signature tax bill, telling reporters on Wednesday that compromises were made to secure the necessary votes.
“Number one, we have to get a lot of votes,” Trump said. “We can’t be cutting — you know, we need, we need to get a lot of support.”
Musk, who led the Department of Government Efficiency as part of a bid to cut federal spending, told CBS News in an interview that he was “disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”
Musk’s comments echo some fiscal hawks who have argued that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” — which pairs new tax cuts with an increase to military and border spending — could add trillions to the deficit.
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