Tesla CEO Elon Musk's call for federal spending cuts of “at least” $2 trillion comes as the billionaire tech giant stands as one of former President Trump's most prominent supporters. However, this is drawing skepticism from experts.
“How much do you think we can get out of this wasted $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget?” asked Howard Lutnick, Wall Street CEO and co-chair of the Trump transition team, in Madison, New York City. asked Musk at the former president's recent rally at Square Garden.
Although he didn't give specifics, Musk said he thought so.at least $2 trillionIt has since garnered widespread attention online and mixed reactions from the budget community.
While many experts agree that policymakers must take action to combat the nation's debt, which stands at nearly $36 trillion, some are pouring cold water on Musk's comments. .
“He has the potential to have a big say in the government, but realistically he doesn't have much appetite for doing anything politically difficult. [needs] This is what we need to do to control the budget,” Desmond Luckman, a senior fellow at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, said in an interview.
“So no matter what Elon Musk thinks, no matter what Donald Trump thinks, it has to pass Congress,” Luckman said.
Treasury figures show expended by the federal government The deficit was more than $1.8 trillion during the period, up from $6.7 trillion in the year that ended in September.
Breaking down this spending by category, Social Security topped the list with more than $1.4 trillion, followed by health care, interest payments, Medicare, and defense. Together, these items amount to well over half of government spending over a 12-month period.
In September, President Trump established a Government Efficiency Commission, chaired by Musk, and promised to conduct a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government” and make “recommendations for fundamental reform.” did.
playing cards Musk also praised him repeatedly. In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity earlier this week, he said he was acting as a “cost cutter” and that “there are a lot of roles you can play.”
“But here's the problem: The president feels there is waste, fraud, and abuse in our country's budget. And he's right. He's a great cost cutter. And he does it without anyone knowing. “It's going to cut costs,” President Trump said.
“No one knows that, no one will feel it. He feels he can cut costs and save $2 trillion. If he does that, our budget will be more than balanced. It will be.”
Musk asked how President Trump's proposed commission would help reduce the nation's debt said at a recent online town hall. “I consider even delaying debt payments a victory,” he said, adding that if he had “full authority to take action,” he would “immediately balance the budget.”
“Most importantly, we need to cut spending within our means. We know that this will inevitably come with temporary difficulties, but it is the key to ensuring long-term prosperity. We will make it happen,'' he said at the time.
Similar ideas gained traction among House Republicans last year. The two parties were at odds over how to deal with the nation's debt ceiling, as Republicans push to balance the federal budget over 10 years.
But the effort failed as Democrats accused Republicans of pursuing entitlement programs. House Republicans also clashed at the time over how increased solvency for entitlement programs and potential military spending cuts fit into negotiations for deep spending cuts.
Asked about Musk's recent comments, Maya McGuineas, chair of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), said if Musk was “talking about saving $2 trillion over 10 years” , said the mission was “absolutely doable.”
“But it would be difficult to say that we can cut $2 trillion from the budget in a single year without compromising some of the government's fundamental goals that are widely agreed upon,” McGuineas added.
Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, said that given the math, cuts of this magnitude could lead to significant spending cuts in government programs.
“There will be a 33 percent cut to every program in the budget,” he claimed. “It’s a 33% cut in Social Security, it’s a 33% cut in Medicare, it’s a 33% cut in all the programs we have to support our veterans…compensation and benefits, And so is veteran health care.”
There is ongoing debate on both sides of the aisle about how much Trump's proposed policies would increase the national debt in the coming years if he becomes president.
A rough analysis released by the CRFB last month estimated that the plans proposed by both President Trump and Vice President Harris could increase the national debt by trillions of dollars by 2035, but President Trump's The policy is estimated to cost roughly twice as much as the president's proposed policy. competitor.
Among the biggest items the group highlighted was the estimated $5.3 trillion price tag attached to Mr. Trump's proposal to extend and amend parts of his signature 2017 tax law. . Harris' proposal to extend parts of the plan would also cost nearly $3 trillion from 2026 to 2035.
The Trump campaign strongly disagrees with this analysis. Trump campaign press secretary Caroline Levitt said the former president's “pro-growth” tax plan “will help quickly rebuild the largest economy in history while eliminating taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security.” said. [hard-working] An American.”
Richard Stern, director of the Grover M. Herman Center on the Federal Budget at the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind the Project 2025 plan, also defended President Trump's 2017 tax law, saying the policy “probably will not result in more than 10 years of revenue.” It is highly likely that it brought about this.” loss. “
“Depending on the nature of the tax cuts, the deficit resulting from tax cuts could actually be put to better use by returning it to the private sector,” he argued.
He also supported Musk's comments about spending cuts, citing his leadership at social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Even at Twitter, he's running a private company that's profitable. A more valuable company could cut 85 percent of its workforce and actually have a better product and be more expensive.” “We thought we could make a profit,” he said. But he also cast doubt on the likelihood of $2 trillion in cuts in the near term.
“If the problem is actually cutting $2 trillion from January, then probably not, right? But if you were to come back in 2030, government spending for that year would be less than you expected. If you ask me, “Is it $2 trillion less than it was?'', Stern said, “I think it's a no-brainer.''
The Hill reached out to Musk for comment via X.
