Congress
White House allies ‘disappointed’ at Musk’s opposition to megabill
Republican allies close to the White House are privately arguing that the former special government employee — who spent Tuesday afternoon blasting the spending bill and threatening to retaliate against its supporters — is opposing the bill because it harms the tech billionaire’s business interests.
The House-passed megabill represents the president’s chief — and potentially only — major legislative priority this Congress. But Musk’s opposition suggests that the coalition that vaulted Trump to the White House is still facing internal disagreement over it as it makes its way through the Senate. It marks another dust-up between the MAGA and Tech Right. And it raises the possibility some members face pressure from Musk if they ultimately support it.
“The West Wing is perplexed, unenthused, and disappointed” with Musk, who left the White House to attend to his ailing business empire, according to one White House official, who like others interviewed for this story were granted anonymity to be candid about an ally who spent hundreds of millions to ensconce them in the White House.
Among other criticisms, Musk posted to X on May 29 that the bill would not “change tax incentives for oil & gas, just EV/solar,” and Tesla Energy has also come out against the bill. ·
The legislation terminates multiple tax credits that Tesla — as one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers in America — currently qualifies for: a $7,500 federal tax credit for new EVs, the $4,000 credit for used EVs, and a $1,000 credit for Level 2 charger installation. The bill would also impose a $250 yearly federal registration fee for EV owners only.
If the bill is passed as currently written, Tesla’s $11.4 billion in regulatory credits wouldexpire at the end of 2025.Those credits contributed to Tesla’s profitability in the first quarter this year.
Axios first reported some of the recent tension points between Musk and White House aides.
The White House allies urged a more critical look at Musk and Tesla’s claims about the megabill.
“When businessmen criticize legislation, journalists don’t take them at their word, they look at how the legislation would impact their business interests,” said a Republican close to the White House. “They should be doing that in this case.”
Musk’s broadsides against the bill angered the White House, which came amid a critical effort this week to line up support for the package in the Senate.
At a Tuesday briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed the criticism, saying Trump “already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill.”
But privately, aides cast the attack as an attempt at retaliation after Musk failed to convince Republicans to preserve an electric vehicle tax credit in the megabill that would benefit Tesla, said one person familiar with the situation who was granted anonymity to describe internal thinking.
The billionaire had also recently suffered a setback in a separate attempt to further enrich his businesses, after the administration rejected his push for the Federal Aviation Administration to incorporate his Starlink satellites into the nation’s air traffic control system.
Further heightening tensions, the person familiar said, was that Musk’s departure from the White House came despite his efforts to convince aides to let him to stay — even though he had hit his mandated 130-day limit as a special government employee.
Though Musk’s latest tweets came as a surprise — landing for maximum impact in the middle of Leavitt’s briefing and Senate Republicans’ group lunch — the broader scorched-earth exit was seen by many Trump advisers and allies as an inevitability, said a second person familiar with the situation. The only question, the person said, was how quickly it’d happen and what would trigger the falling-out.
“These days were always coming,” said the second person. “His departure is going as well as can be hoped.”
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) is jumping into the race to lead House education committee Democrats.
The Oregon Democrat officially declared she will run to be the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee in a Dear Colleague letter sent to members of the Democratic caucus Tuesday and shared with Blue Light News.
Bonamici’s jump into the race marks another challenger for Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the panel’s current ranking member. Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) is also running for the panel’s top spot.
Bonamici wrote in the letter that she is “ready to bring a fresh and collaborative approach to invigorate this Committee with a plan to champion the education and labor priorities of our Caucus. With my legal background, I’m prepared to use all of the power of Congress to hold Trump and his cronies, including Secretary Linda McMahon, accountable for the harm they have caused.”
Bonamici introduced a resolution to impeach the Education secretary because of McMahon’s efforts to dismantle the department without the approval of Congress.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after Bonamici told POLITICO last month that she was not ruling out a run for committee leadership and was having conversations about it. Her leadership run now comes as Democrats believe they will win the House majority in November.
The Oregon Democrat, who currently serves as top Democrat on the K-12 subcommittee, said the whole panel “must provide a bold and visionary approach while fighting Trump’s corruption and assault on public education, unions, and working families” if they take the majority.
BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania — Speaker Mike Johnson defended President Donald Trump’s use of taxpayer funded political-themed ads ahead of the election, but he said it was “good” that MAGA Inc. would pay for them going forward.
Johnson said Tuesday that he’s only seen one of the Trump ads and that it “looked like a public service announcement.”
“It was talking about America’s greatness and the economy coming back, and it wasn’t a plea to vote for anybody. It was just — it was pro Americana,” Johnson told Blue Light News during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.
But he added: “If the Super PAC’s funding them, that’s good.”
Trump said Monday that he or his aligned super PAC would pay for the series of taxpayer-funded ads featuring him in the final few weeks of the midterms. His decision came after bipartisan backlash, including from some GOP candidates like Brinker Harding in Nebraska’s 2nd District publicly broke with the president and said they shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer money.
Still, asked if Trump should refund taxpayers the money already spent on the ads, Johnson demurred. He said previous Democratic administrations have run PSAs as well, though Democrats argue these ads violate federal laws against using taxpayer money for “publicity or propaganda purposes.”
“Look, they’re making their decisions on funding campaigns and the content of all of it,” Johnson said of the president’s team.
“I’m going to tell you the president is deeply vested,” Johnson added, noting Trump was out on the campaign trail for Republicans.
Johnson spoke alongside Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) during a law enforcement event in the perennial bellwether of Pennsylvania’s 7th District. He called Mackenzie’s race one of the “top three in the country” and warned it would be “enormously expensive.”
He later argued that Democrats, if they win the House majority, would roll back GOP work on the economy and “empower our enemies around the world at the worst possible time.”
“That would roil the markets … if Democrats turned Congress into lawfare on steroids,” Johnson said.
Pennsylvania is the first of seven states that Johnson plans to visit this week as he continues his midterm campaign blitz.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to stay on the court through next year, brushing aside speculation that he could retire early and let President Donald Trump fill his seat after the election but before a new Congress is sworn in next year.
“I intend to stick around through this term,” Alito, 76, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “I made that decision many months ago.”
The Supreme Court began its new term on Monday, which will last through next June.
Alito, the second-oldest justice on the bench, was in the news last week after telling CBS News that he considered retiring this year and will do so again in 2027.
His comments come as the fight over control of the Senate is in a dead heat. Democrats would have to flip at least four seats, but recent polls show several races, including in states Trump carried easily two years ago, remain competitive.
Several Senate Democratic candidates are already running on the prospect of filling a seat on the Supreme Court or, at least, denying Trump’s ability to do so. Senate Republicans successfully blocked a Democratic nominee in 2016, allowing Trump to fill the seat after he came into the White House.
“Our race to decide Ohio’s next Senator could not only determine control of the U.S. Senate, but also who fills a lifetime seat on the highest court in the land,” Sherrod Brown, the Democratic nominee in Ohio, wrote in a blog post Monday. “Ohio’s next senator could be our first line of defense against another partisan Supreme Court Justice — or rubber stamp a Trump nominee.”
-
Politics2 years agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics2 years agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics2 years agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words