Congress
Johnson, Thune push back on Musk’s megabill criticism
The top two congressional Republicans rebutted Elon Musk’s criticism of their “big, beautiful bill” Wednesday as the tech mogul and former Trump administration cost-cutter continued attacking the GOP legislation overnight.
Speaker Mike Johnson spent several minutes during a closed-door House Republican Conference meeting on Wednesday morning pushing back on Musk and trying to reassure Republicans after Musk signaled that he thinks lawmakers who support the megabill should be ousted next year, according to three people in the room granted anonymity to describe the private meeting.
Johnson told his conference that he’s tried to call Musk to explain the process behind the megabill, as well as a separate bill to claw back billions in spending. Johnson’s message, in the meeting, according to the attendees: People will have differences of opinion; don’t take it personally.
“I think he’s flat wrong, and I’ve told him as much,” Johnson said at a news conference after the meeting.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune downplayed the impact that Musk’s criticism would have on his whip count. Republicans can afford no more than three defections in the chamber, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is already expected to oppose the bill.
“Obviously he has some influence, got a big following on social media,” he said. “But at the end of the day this is a 51-vote exercise here in the Senate, and I think it’s going to be the question for our members is going to be would you prefer the alternative. And the alternative isn’t a good one.”
Thune said he had spoken to Musk “a couple of days ago,” ahead of his latest attacks. Musk called the bill a “disgusting abomination” yesterday, and he continued attacking the bill and the GOP Congress overnight for not doing more to address “massive deficit spending.” The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday the bill will add $2.4 trillion in deficits over the coming decade.
“There are going to be a lot of people who share commentary about this, and we just got to make sure we’re doing everything we can to get our arguments out there,” Thune added.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise also downplayed Musk’s potential threats to GOP members in a brief interview, saying that the party is “continuing to see fundraising goals get exceeded” ahead next year’s midterms.
“The speaker, myself, our whole team continues to exceed fundraising goals, because people know what’s at stake next year,” he added. “And President Trump’s all in, by the way, too, helping us hold the House. … He’s been our best, most effective deliverer of support.”
Johnson said at the news conference that Trump is deeply unhappy about Musk torching the centerpiece of his legislative agenda — reiterating comments he’d made inside the closed-door meeting: “As you know, he’s not delighted that Elon did a 180 on that.”
The chair of the House Agriculture Committee said he’s not willing to “accept bad results” as a tradeoff for the benefits of advancements in artificial intelligence — a direct rebuttal to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“As someone who practiced health care for 28 years, I’m never willing to accept bad results. I think we just need to do our best,” Rep. G.T. Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, told reporters Monday.
He was responding to Altman’s comments to Decoded by Blue Light News that people “should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency.”
Pressed further on whether he agreed with Altman’s premise, Thompson replied, “No, I think we have to work harder to prevent any bad things from happening.”
Altman’s comments come in the wake of increased panic over the risks of catastrophic destruction from AI, with many industry leaders and experts arguing that guardrails are needed on the technology to prevent it from spinning out of human control.
Pressure is building on Congress to regulate the rapidly-advancing technology, but lawmakers are divided over whether the AI industry needs federal regulation or if it’s capable of governing itself.
The executives of major AI labs and tech companies gathered at the White House last week to discuss solutions with President Donald Trump, who believes overregulating AI will have national security repercussions. The group ended up signing a “morally binding” AI accord that critics say won’t do enough to prevent a worst-case scenario.
Thompson noted Monday he believes that AI will bring “tremendous solutions,” specifically in regards to finding cures for health issues like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. But he also said AI has to be led with “principle” — comparing it to how he addressed digital assets in a bill to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, which he worked on as chair of the Agriculture Committee.
“The first principle is ‘do no harm.’ So we need to protect consumers, and that means, I think, building some guardrails — some guidelines — to do that,” Thompson said. He added that the second principle is to “foster innovation.”
“I think AI has a lot to do with that,” he added. “I don’t think AI works without RI: Real Intelligence.”
LE SUEUR, Minnesota — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday there is no “consensus” yet on advancing a bill establishing permanent daylight saving time even as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Republicans to pass it.
Thune addressed the matter in a Monday interview after Trump used his Truth Social account multiple times over the weekend to rail against the legislation, known as the Sunshine Protection Act — going so far as to post the personal cell phone number of one of its GOP opponents, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
“The president feels strongly on it like he does a lot of issues,” he said. “It’s something we’re having conversations about but there’s no clear path forward or consensus on it yet.”
While Trump singled out Cotton for scrutiny, Thune made clear the opposition to the permanent daylight saving time proposal — which would lead to very late winter sunrises in some parts of the country — ran deeper than one senator.
Cotton has publicly voiced opposition to the proposal for year, citing, among other things, the fact that children in his state would be going to school in the dark for part of the year.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) voiced similar objections Monday to reporters in the Capitol, saying he was mindful of “safety concerns in the more northern and rural states where children get on the school bus in very early hours.”
Thune, who spoke during a campaign swing in Minnesota with GOP Senate nominee Michele Tafoya, has himself opposed previous daylight saving bills. He said Monday that “a lot of it depends on where you are in the country” and that “your geography probably has as much to do with your position on that as anything.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who has aligned himself closely with Trump, is among the lawmakers who have been pushing to get the bill through the Senate. He recently told POLITICO, “I’m going to make sure it gets passed this year.”
Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.
Democrats have pulled back some of their ads in North Carolina’s Senate race, days after the top Senate Republican super PAC paused its future spending in the state.
WinSenate, a group affiliated with the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, has removed roughly $1.1 million in North Carolina ad buys this week, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact. The group still has roughly $18.8 million in future reservations through Election Day.
“Senate Majority PAC is committed to seeing this race through to victory, and will continue to make spending decisions based on how to best build a strong Senate majority,” Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French said in a statement.
The move, combined with the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund’s decision to pause future spending, are a signal that both parties are shifting resources amid an ever-expanding Senate map. Democrats are increasingly confident in their North Carolina Senate nominee, Roy Cooper, as he continues to hold a sizable lead in public polling over Republican Michael Whatley — but some privately say states like Michigan and New Hampshire need more resources.
Meanwhile, multiple Republican groups, not just SLF, have retreated from the state in recent weeks, effectively deciding that it’s no longer worth the money to boost Whatley’s campaign.
The Koch-aligned Americans for Prosperity Action left North Carolina off its $22 million list of future spending across key Senate contests, and Old North Action removed $6.5 million in ad reservations last month.
The Cooper campaign, however, is still treating the race as competitive, pointing to North Carolina’s closely divided electorate and the fact that President Donald Trump won the state in each of the past three presidential elections.
“North Carolina is a truly 50/50 state and Democrats haven’t won a US Senate race in 18 years. We can’t take anything for granted or our eye off the ball,” said Morgan Jackson, a senior adviser to the Cooper campaign. “DC is broken and we’re going to continue to run this race like we’re ten points down to ensure North Carolinians get the change they desperately need.”
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