**Elon Musk Voices Concerns Over Trump’s Tax and Spending Cuts**

Elon Musk has voiced his apprehensions regarding President Donald Trump’s extensive tax and spending cuts package. In a video released Tuesday, Musk criticized the package, stressing his belief that it would exacerbate the US budget deficit and hinder the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk remarked to "CBS Sunday Morning." He further commented, "I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both."

The legislation has been described by Trump as a "big, beautiful bill" and includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts coupled with substantial investments in the US military and national security. These expenditures are largely offset by overhauls to federal health and nutrition programs and reductions in energy programs. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan entity, estimates that the bill would add another $3.8 trillion to the deficit. Having narrowly passed the House, the bill now heads to the Senate where significant revisions are anticipated.

Musk’s comments occur amidst a media tour ahead of a SpaceX test flight. He is redirecting his focus back to his companies, such as SpaceX and Tesla, which have faced challenges partly due to Musk's political engagements with the Trump administration. Hours before SpaceX's Starship test flight, Musk noted in an interview with Ars Technica that he believes involving himself in politics might have been to the detriment of his companies.

"I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics, it's less than people would think, because the media is going to over-represent any political stuff, because political bones of contention get a lot of traction in the media," Musk explained. "It's not like I left the companies. It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks."

While Musk also mentioned that he plans to allocate significantly less money to political endeavors moving forward, it remains uncertain if this shift will affect his pledge of $100 million to political groups supported by the president. He has previously spent over $290 million aiding the election of Trump and GOP congressional candidates, and Musk-connected groups invested more than $20 million in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this year.

Defending DOGE's ongoing efforts in Washington, Musk told the Washington Post, "DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything. So, like, something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it." Despite Musk stepping back, CNN reports that DOGE is set to continue its operations with its staff remaining embedded across federal agencies for the foreseeable future.