House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters he was "surprised" by Elon Musk's criticism of the "big, beautiful bill" after the two of them discussed the legislation.
While the speaker expressed confidence in the bill, he acknowledged that it took Congress "decades" to reach a point where the national debt has crept past $36.2 trillion and that it would take more than one bill to fix the situation.
"The Trump administration needs four years to do all this reform, not two years. The Biden administration, Biden-Harris, made such a disaster of every metric of public policy, it's going to take us more than one bill to fix it all," Johnson said.
NATIONAL DEBT TRACKER: AMERICAN TAXPAYERS (YOU) ARE NOW ON THE HOOK FOR $36,214,400,664,854.53 AS OF 6/3/25
ELON MUSK WARNS EXCESSIVE SPENDING WILL PLUNGE US 'INTO DEBT SLAVERY'
The Republican House leader said he and Musk, whom he considers a "friend," had a "great conversation" about the "big, beautiful bill" on Monday. The tech billionaire apparently joked that the bill could not be "big and beautiful," to which Johnson replied, "Oh, yes it can, my friend. It's very beautiful."
"Elon and I left on a great note. We were texting one another - you know, happy texts," Johnson told reporters. The speaker added he was surprised when Musk came out against the bill the next day.
"I think he's flat wrong," Johnson said. "I think he's way off on this, and I've told him as much."
Johnson also praised the "obviously brilliant" tech billionaire for his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut government waste.
GOP SENATORS EXPRESS 'CONCERNS,' 'SKEPTICISM' OVER TRUMP'S SPENDING BILL AFTER MUSK RANT
Despite seemingly ending his tenure with the Trump White House on good terms last week, Musk came out swinging against the "big, beautiful bill," calling it a "disgusting abomination."
"This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," Musk tweeted.
Musk also retweeted multiple pleas from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, for the Senate to improve the bill and avoid saddling Americans with more government spending.
On Wednesday, during a weekly press briefing, House Republican leadership advocated for the "big, beautiful bill," saying it was necessary for funding the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. Multiple leaders, including Johnson and House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., cited the antisemitic attack in Colorado allegedly carried out by an illegal immigrant as an example of why the bill's funding is needed.
"We need to go find the other Solimans and get them out of America," Johnson said in reference to suspected Boulder, Colorado, attacker Mohamed Soliman, the Egyptian national accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of people calling for the release of hostages being held in Gaza.
Now that the bill has passed the House, it's up to Senate Republicans to meet President Donald Trump's July 4 deadline.
