Hill GOP leaders are in full-on damage control as they scramble to save their megabill — and themselves — from the blast radius of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s breakup.
But Musk doesn’t seem interested in sparing any part of the GOP trifecta from his wrath on his way out of Washington. The president’s new enemy attacked both Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune Thursday over the cost of the party’s sweeping domestic policy package. Thune brushed it aside.
Johnson, however, is mounting a multi-front rebuttal as he aims to keep Musk from hurting the megabill’s prospects. He’s questioning the tech mogul’s motives for opposing the bill and challenging his claims about its impact on the deficit. Johnson already had to reassure hard-liners concerned about the bill’s spending in order to squeeze the bill through the House last month.
“I’m the same guy that’s always been a deficit hawk, and now I’m the speaker of the House, and I’m working on a multi-step plan to reverse the fiscal insanity that has haunted our country,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. “We have to get the big, beautiful bill done.”
Johnson’s leadership team quickly claimed Musk wouldn’t rattle their members. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise insisted it hadn’t moved any votes. And Whip Tom Emmer, in an exclusive interview with POLITICO, said he’s not tracking Musk’s onslaught on X.
“Sorry,” Emmer said, “he’s not on my phone.”
Some fiscal hard-liners — who share in Musk’s concerns about the bill but allowed it to pass the House — avoided immediately picking sides in the feud. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), bombarded with questions about Musk on Thursday, said only that he’s “right on the deficit.” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted on X: “But … I really like both of them.”
They may not have to choose. Signs of a détente emerged late Thursday, with Trump brushing off the clash in a phone call with POLITICO and Musk seeming somewhat open to a reconciliation (just not the reconciliation bill). White House aides are working to broker peace.
Still, if the Trump-Musk divorce goes through, MAGA will likely side with the president. There were signs Thursday that Musk was alienating some of Trump’s biggest Hill boosters.
“Elon is getting too personal. It’s getting out of control,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told POLITICO. “Some of the most recent comments, I think: Elon, you’ve lost your mind.”
What else we’re watching:
— Rescissions deadline: Congress must act by July 18 on Trump’s request to claw back $9.4 billion in funding or the White House will be required to spend the money, the Senate parliamentarian said. The House is expected to vote next week to approve the request, as submitted. But Senate Republicans are considering their options for making tweaks to the package.
— AI update for the megabill: Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Thursday his committee would attempt to rewrite the 10-year moratorium on enforcement of state and local artificial intelligence laws that the House tucked into their version of the megabill.
Rachael Bade, Dasha Burns and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
