Musk, Republican hardliners step up attacks on Trump's spending Bill

Hardline conservative Republicans in the US Senate and billionaire Elon Musk showed no sign of softening opposition to US President Donald Trump's tax cut and spending Bill on June 4, as they pushed for deeper reductions in government outlays.

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WASHINGTON - Hardline conservative Republicans in the US Senate and billionaire Elon Musk showed no sign of softening opposition to US President Donald Trump's tax cut and spending Bill on June 4, as they pushed for deeper reductions in government outlays.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on June 4 estimated that the Bill - which would extend Mr Trump's 2017 tax cuts and step up spending for the military and border security - would add US$2.4 trillion (S$3.1 trillion) to the US$36.2 trillion US debt pile.

Another non-partisan forecaster, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said on June 4 that when taking interest payments into account, the Bill's cost could rise to US$3 trillion over a decade or US$5 trillion if the tax cuts were made permanent.

Mr Musk, who for several months led the Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting effort, stepped up his attacks on the measure, joining Senate Republican deficit hawks who said the version passed by the House of Representatives in May did not sufficiently cut spending.

"A new spending Bill should be drafted that doesn't massively grow the deficit," Mr Musk, the largest Republican donor in the 2024 election cycle, said on his X social media platform. "America is in the fast lane to debt slavery."

Top congressional Republicans rejected his criticism, and one White House official on June 4 called the Tesla chief executive's moves "infuriating."