Senate Republicans want 'more robust' spending cuts in Trump agenda bill

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Senate Republicans are plotting ways to cut more spending than their House counterparts did in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” as concerns about the measure’s deficit impact mount inside and outside of the Capitol.

Billionaire Elon Musk added some pressure Tuesday as he denounced the version passed by the House last month as “a disgusting abomination.”

The House package included nearly $1.7 trillion in spending cuts, but the tax cuts and new spending in the bill total $4 trillion, amounting to a $2.3 trillion net deficit increase before economic growth impacts are considered.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, has not committed to a specific level of spending cuts but said Tuesday he expects the Senate will produce more savings than the House.

“We think there are areas in the federal government, areas of waste, fraud and abuse, that we can further identify that will make that a more robust package,” he said.

Mr. Musk, days after leaving his high-profile position as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, used his social media platform to pan the House-passed package for adding to “the already gigantic budget deficit.”

“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Mr. Musk said on X. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong.”

Mr. Musk’s post was amplified by like-minded senators.

“Congress has hollowed out America’s middle class through reckless deficit spending and the inflation it causes,” Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, said on X.

He said Senate Republicans can make the House bill better with further cuts to mandatory spending programs, as the budget reconciliation process they are using to avoid the threat of a Democratic filibuster allows. Mr. Lee also wants Republicans to cut discretionary spending through a combination of rescissions packages needed to claw back spending already approved by Congress and future appropriations bills.

Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, said he shares Mr. Musk’s concerns. “I’m going to continue to work to bring down the deficit, to hopefully balance the budget in the next three years,” Mr. Scott said.

Mr. Thune brushed off Mr. Musk’s criticism as a “difference of opinion” based on Congressional Budget Office cost estimates that do not fully account for economic growth impacts of the legislation.

“All the modeling that we’ve seen suggests that the changes that are being made in the tax policy, particularly making permanent bonus depreciation, interest deductibility, R&D expensing, are going to lead to significant growth,” he said. “And you couple the growth with the biggest spending reduction in American history, and you will see a reduction, not an increase in the deficit.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that Mr. Musk’s comments were “very disappointing” and “very surprising” given their 20-minute phone conversation about the bill on Monday.

“With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong,” the Louisiana Republican said.

In addition to cutting spending, the House-passed package would extend and expand upon Mr. Trump’s first-term tax cuts, provide money for border security and defense and overhaul energy policies to encourage domestic production.

If Congress does not pass some form of the bill extending the 2017 tax cuts, it would result in one of the largest income-tax increases in modern history.

Senate Republicans’ push to find more spending cuts is complicated by a handful of lawmakers in the conference who want to nix certain House provisions, which would require them to make up those savings.

Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, said he opposes a few of the House’s Medicaid proposals, like charging beneficiaries copays for certain health services and freezing states’ provider tax rates, which could hamper an important funding source for rural hospitals.

“I don’t want to see Medicaid benefit cuts in the state of Missouri, and I don’t want to see rural hospitals close,” he said.

Mr. Hawley said he still supports finding more savings to reduce the legislation’s deficit impact. He suggested two Trump-backed proposals, capping the price the government pays for prescription drugs and changing the tax treatment of carried interest, a form of investment income, as options that should be considered.

Mr. Trump has spoken with Mr. Hawley and other senators who have concerns about the package in recent days as he prods the Senate to pass the bill by July 4.

Mr. Thune has said he shares that goal and is tentatively planning to have a revised package on the floor the last week of June.

Senate Republicans cannot afford to lose more than three votes from their party on the bill, given united Democratic opposition.

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, has said he will vote against the bill if it contains a significant increase in the debt ceiling. The House bill raised the debt limit by $4 trillion and Senate Republicans have discussed upping that to $5 trillion.

Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, said the debt ceiling increase should be tied to the amount of deficit reduction in the bill and used to maintain leverage for further spending cuts in subsequent legislation.

“You don’t have to pass the whole big, beautiful bill,” he said. “We could take a pretty good chunk of it, get it passed, but we have to have another bite at the apple.”

Mr. Johnson said he understands Congress needs to increase the debt limit by August or risk the government defaulting on its borrowing obligations. But he said a $2.5 trillion increase, coupled with commensurate spending cuts, would be enough to last a year and “keep the pressure on” for Congress to come back and do more.

Mr. Paul said he is open to Mr. Johnson’s proposal of a bifurcated approach, but he would want the initial debt limit increase to be even lower.

“I’ve already voted for $500 billion, which [would last] three months,” he said. “Now, if they tell me they want $2 trillion or $3 trillion, I don’t know that’s materially different than $5 trillion.”

Mr. Paul’s comments came hours after Mr. Trump lashed out at him on social media for opposing the “big, beautiful bill,” or BBB.

“Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming. He loves voting ’no’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. THE BBB is a big WINNER!!” Mr. Trump posted.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the bill at the daily briefing, saying Mr. Johnson and Mr. Paul are talking “without having their facts together.”

Ms. Leavitt also criticized the CBO, painting the nonpartisan agency that forecasts the cost of legislation as a left-leaning, anti-Trump entity that “has been historically wrong.” In 2017, the CBO predicted Mr. Trump’s tax cuts would generate half a trillion dollars less than they actually produced, she said.

Nor does Mr. Musk’s criticism of the bill change Mr. Trump’s opinion, Ms. Leavitt said.

“This is one big, beautiful bill, and he is sticking to it,” she said.

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