President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk are reportedly at loggerheads after the latter criticized Trump’s spending and tax bill, calling it the “Debt Slavery Bill” and urging Congress to reject it.
According to a Wednesday report from The Wall Street Journal, Trump is “losing patience” with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, and the relationship between the two influential figures is supposedly deteriorating.
Musk is not willing to support the bill’s $5 trillion debt ceiling increase and cuts to several federal programs. A senior White House official, speaking anonymously with WSJ, said that Trump was confused and frustrated by Musk’s public attacks after months of alignment on multiple policy fronts.
President Trump unhappy with ‘first buddy’ Musk
Late Wednesday, on X, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul shared his concerns about the scale of the bill, saying he could vote for the “not yet Big Beautiful bill” if the debt ceiling issue was separated from it.
Musk reposted Paul’s commentary by labeling the legislation as “the largest increase in the debt ceiling in US history,” and coining it as the “Debt Slavery Bill.” He called on his 220 million followers to contact lawmakers, saying: “Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.”
This spending bill contains the largest increase in the debt ceiling in US history!
It is the Debt Slavery Bill. https://t.co/7EEyUEha1q
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 4, 2025
His posts could have re-energized Republican spending hawks, but it’s unclear if the opposition will be sufficient to block the bill, which already passed the House and now awaits Senate revisions.
CBO projects massive deficit increase, coverage losses
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis estimating that Trump’s proposed bill would reduce federal revenue by $3.67 trillion while cutting spending by $1.25 trillion over the next decade.
The projected result is a $2.4 trillion increase in national debt, which currently stands at $36 trillion. The CBO also predicted that 10.9 million Americans would lose health insurance by 2034, including over 1.4 million individuals without verified immigration status, who would be removed from state-funded programs.
In response to these projections, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lambasted the CBO as a “politically-biased group.” She claimed the agency’s analysts support Democratic candidates, and therefore “could not be objective.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson supported these sentiments, alleging that a vast majority of CBO staff are partisan Democrats, some of whom have contributed to progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
“No government in the history of mankind has ever cut $1.6 trillion in a piece of legislation,” he told reporters.
Is it a NASA nominee dispute retaliation?
WSJ alluded that the rift between Musk and Trump could have begun from a dispute involving Jared Isaacman, Musk’s ally and a private astronaut affiliated with SpaceX. The Trump administration recently pulled Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA, a move that reportedly infuriated Musk.
According to individuals familiar with the situation, Musk complained that despite contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to support Trump’s re-election campaign, his influence was disregarded in the NASA appointment.
After Isaacman’s nomination was withdrawn, Musk went on social media to publicly defend him, describing him as “competent and good-hearted.” Isaacman piloted the first private orbital mission aboard a SpaceX vehicle. He believes that Musk’s criticism of the administration gave officials political cover to drop the nomination.
The Senate is expected to modify the bill before it returns to the House for final approval. Trump has set a self-imposed July 4 deadline to sign it into law.
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