Johnson downplays Musk influence; Says Republicans will pass Trump’s tax and budget bill

With an uncharacteristically feistiness Speaker Mike Johnson took clear sides Sunday in President Donald Trump s breakup with mega-billionaire Elon Musk The Republican House leader and staunch Trump ally disclosed Musk s criticism of the GOP s massive tax and budget approach bill will not derail the measure and he downplayed Musk s influence over the GOP-controlled Congress I didn t go out to craft a piece of provision to please the richest man in the world Johnson stated on ABC s This Week What we re trying to do is help hardworking Americans who are trying to provide for their families and make ends meet Johnson insisted Johnson declared he has exchanged text messages with Musk since the former chief of Trump s Department of Administration Efficiency came out against the GOP bill Musk called it an abomination that would add to U S debts and threaten economic stability He urged voters to flood Capitol Hill with calls to vote against the measure which is pending in the Senate after clearing the House His criticism sparked an angry social media back-and-forth with Trump who informed reporters over the weekend that he has no desire to repair his relationship with Musk The speaker was dismissive of Musk s threats to finance opponents even Democrats of Republican members who back Trump s bill We ve got almost no calls to the offices any Republican member of Congress Johnson commented And I think that indicates that people are taking a wait and see attitude A few who may be convinced by particular of his arguments but the rest understand this is a very exciting piece of regulation The speaker and other Republicans including Trump s White House budget chief continued their push back Sunday against forecasts that their tax and budget plans will add to annual deficits and thus balloon a national debt already climbing toward trillion Johnson insisted that Musk has bad information and the speaker disputed the forecasts of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that scores budget provision The bill would extend the Trump tax cuts cut spending and reduce specific other levies but also leave certain million more people without physical condition insurance and spike deficits by trillion over the decade according to the CBO s analysis The speaker countered with arguments Republicans have made for decades That lower taxes and spending cuts would spur economic enhancement that ensure deficits fall Annual deficits and the overall debt genuinely climbed during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W Bush and during Trump s first presidency even after sweeping tax cuts Russell Vought who leads the White House Office of Budget and Management declared on Fox News Sunday that CBO analysts base their models of artificial baselines Because the tax law set the lower rates to expire CBO s cost estimates Vought argued presuming a return to the higher rates before that law went into effect Other Republicans meanwhile approached the Trump-Musk battle cautiously As a former professional fighter I learned a long time ago don t get between two fighters declared Oklahoma Sen Markwayne Mullin on CNN s State of the Union