REPUBLICAN LEADERS are working to quash a revolt over debt in President Trump’s agenda bill amid fierce criticism from Elon Musk and new projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The nonpartisan CBO said Wednesday that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would add $2.4 trillion to the national deficit over the next 10 years, largely driven by tax cuts, which will decrease government revenue by $3.6 trillion.
Furthermore, the CBO said 11 million people would lose health insurance, either through Medicaid cuts or efforts to pare back the Affordable Care Act.
The White House and GOP Congressional leaders are going on the offensive against the CBO, casting it as a partisan organization that’s been wrong about their projections in the past.
“We’ve got a referee who likes to sack our quarterback a lot,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.).
Republicans insist the CBO is underestimating growth projections, arguing that deregulation and tax cuts will serve as an engine for economic growth.
However, Trump’s trade war got a boost from the CBO, which found government revenue from tariffs would reduce deficit levels by $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years.
Still, GOP leaders are rushing to keep a lid on the brewing revolt over debt, which has been supercharged by Musk, who has fired off more than a dozen social media posts over the past 24 hours calling the bill an “abomination” and threatening to oust Republican lawmakers who vote for it.
Musk on Wednesday called on Republicans to "kill the bill," saying on X that "a new spending bill should be drafted that doesn’t massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS."
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Trump is “not delighted” that Musk “did a 180” on the budget bill, which comes as the clock ticks down toward the GOP’s self-imposed deadline to get the legislation through the Senate and then back through the House with almost no margin for error.
Johnson cast Musk’s dissent as driven by concerns about personal profits because the bill will end subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs) used by Tesla.
“I know that the EV mandate is very important to him; that is going away because the government should not be subsidizing these things as part of the Green New Deal,” Johnson said. “I know that has an effect on his business and I lament that.”
There are at least nine GOP senators who are undecided on the bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) can only afford to lose three members for the bill to pass the upper chamber.
At least three GOP senators who oppose the bill are citing debt concerns for their opposition, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Paul says he won’t vote for the bill because it raises the debt ceiling by several trillion dollars. Trump on Wednesday called for abolishing the debt ceiling altogether.
Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee will meet with Trump to discuss a way forward on Wednesday afternoon.
HOUSE CONCERNS GROW
If the Senate reaches consensus, could debt concerns imperil the bill when the revised version is sent back to the House?
The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Mychael Schnell capture the House dynamics here:
“If they stand on principle and oppose the package over deficit concerns, they would sink legislation that combines virtually all of Trump’s domestic policy goals and campaign promises, including an immigration crackdown and sweeping tax cuts Republicans consider must-pass items. If they support the package to lend Trump a huge win, they would be voting to grow the same deficit spending they’ve characterized as an existential threat to the nation’s future well-being.”
Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) warned Wednesday during The Hill’s “Invest in America” event that the national debt would put the U.S. at the mercy of the bond markets, which would effectively “run the country.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who voted in favor of the bill last month, is having second thoughts.
“I fully understand what Elon is saying, and I agree with him to a certain extent,” she said.
Greene also said she just learned about a provision in the bill that would ban state regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) for the next 10 years. She says she would have voted against the bill if she’d known about the provision.
“We don’t get the full bill text until very close to the time to vote for it, and so that was one section that was two pages that I didn’t see,” Greene told NewsNation.
MEANWHILE...
The conservative House Freedom Caucus is urging negotiators to lock in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts after the White House sent recissions to Capitol Hill.
The recissions package would cut about $9.4 billion in government spending, much of it from public media and international aid.
“The Appropriations process provides Congress with an opportunity to demonstrate our shared commitment to fighting waste, fraud, and abuse by codifying DOGE cuts and embracing the America First agenda,” said the letter, which was sent to Reps. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee.
?Perspectives:
• Wall Street Journal: The American political realignment is real.
• City Journal: The evolution of American conservatism.
• Newsweek: Trump is ruining the country's image and economy.
• The Liberal Patriot: The two-party face plant.
• The Free Press: How Democrats lost men like me.
Read more:
• House spending hawks face moment of reckoning on Trump megabill.
• Trump bill takes unfriendly fire from GOP allies.
• Medicaid cuts in ‘big beautiful bill’ become flashpoint for GOP.
• Republicans seek ObamaCare rollback in Trump’s megabill.
CATCH UP QUICK
The Department of Education escalated its fight with Columbia University on Wednesday, notifying the school that it's failing to meet accreditation standards.The Federal Trade Commission and Meta wrapped up a six-week trial over the Facebook and Instagram parent’s alleged social networking monopoly, leaving the final decision in the hands of the judge. Here’s what to know about where things stand.
NEWS THIS AFTERNOON
© Illustration / Courtney Jones; Associated Press; and Adobe Stock
© AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Ex-Biden spokesperson leaves Democratic Party
Former President Biden's White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reveals in her forthcoming book that she’s leaving the Democratic Party to become an Independent.
The book, titled “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” will be released in October, with promotional materials describing it as a “groundbreaking, revelatory assessment of America’s broken two-party system.”
The book comes as Washington has been gripped by revelations in the book “Original Sin,” which details how Biden’s inner circle hid his decline from the public and the press.
As press secretary, Jean-Pierre had one of the most public-facing roles in the administration and would have been in regular contact with both the president and his closest advisers to shape their communications strategy.
Jean-Pierre’s book will “takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,” according to the publisher.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is demanding interviews with some of Biden’s top former aides as he expands his probe into the former president’s mental acuity.
• Former President Clinton is adding his voice to the bevy of political figures raising concerns that President Trump's agenda-setting "One Big Beautiful Bill" will pile onto the country's debt.
Clinton said during an event in Washington on Tuesday evening that leaders "have to get ahold" of the national debt, which has more than tripled since he left office two decades ago.
“There are people who want to believe it doesn’t matter, but it does,” Clinton said.
His remarks came during a discussion with co-author James Patterson at D.C.'s Lincoln Theatre to discuss their new novel, "The First Gentleman," released this week.
— Elizabeth Crisp
• Trump and his allies are going hard after the Federalist Society, blaming the conservative judicial group for Trump’s appointees that have at times intervened to block his agenda in the courts.
The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee write in their latest issue of “The Gavel”:
“The boiling point has unleashed a rebellion pitting the Make America Great Again movement against the conservative legal stronghold that helped Trump reshape the courts during his first term by offering up conservative judges as suggestions to fill benches across the country.”
?Perspectives:
• Ross Barkin: The collapse of the professional left.
• Wall Street Journal: Ukraine’s drone strake a warning - for the U.S.
• Spiked: Harvard brought the reckoning on itself.
• The Hill: An era of political violence.
• Politico: Dems set out to study young men. Here’s what they found.
Read more:
• Army hits recruiting goal four months ahead of schedule.
• Trump allies attempt DC Bar takeover.
• NY Dems close ranks around Hochul amid deputy’s primary revolt.
• State board rejects University of Florida pick amid conservative backlash.
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