Musk said the bill could be one or the other, but not both.
The White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) responded on May 28 to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk objecting to the major reconciliation bill that the congressional GOP is looking to send to President Donald Trump’s desk.
Musk told “CBS Sunday Morning” in an episode airing on June 1: “I 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.
“I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both.”
Trump said that the bill will “need a lot of votes” and that he is “not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it.”
He said that Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have “done an incredible job.”
In a post on X, Johnson applauded the “incredible” work that DOGE has done to flag “waste, fraud, and abuse” in the federal government, “from the insanity of USAID’s spending to finding over 12 million people on Social Security who were over 120 years old.”
.@ElonMusk and the entire @DOGE team have done INCREDIBLE work exposing waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government – from the insanity of USAID’s spending to finding over 12 million people on Social Security who were over 120 years old.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) May 28, 2025
The House is eager and ready…
Johnson said the House will codify the cuts that have been made based on recommendations by DOGE.
“The House is eager and ready to act on DOGE’s findings so we can deliver even more cuts to big government that President Trump wants and the American people demand,” Johnson said.
He said the House will codify the DOGE-recommended cuts when the White House sends a package of spending that should be rescinded.
Johnson also said that the “House will use the appropriations process to swiftly implement President Trump’s 2026 budget.”
“In the meantime, we have been working around the clock as we prepared for those processes. The House made sure to build on DOGE’s success within the One Big Beautiful Bill,” he said.
Johnson also said that the reconciliation bill deals with mandatory spending, such as Medicaid, while the cuts that DOGE has recommended are to discretionary funds.
The bill, which the House passed on May 22 and is pending before the Senate, consists of making the 2017 tax cuts permanent and instituting no taxes on tips and overtime, and also includes provisions related to U.S. energy and immigration—such as curbing illegal entries and finishing Trump’s wall along the southern border.
By Jackson Richman and Katabella Roberts
