Mike Johnson downplays Musk’s influence and says Republicans will pass Trump’s tax and budget bill

By BILL BARROW With an uncharacteristically feistiness Speaker Mike Johnson took clear sides Sunday in President Donald Trump s breakup with mega-billionaire Elon Musk The Republican House leader and staunch Trump ally disclosed Musk s criticism of the GOP s massive tax and budget plan bill will not derail the measure and he downplayed Musk s influence over the GOP-controlled Congress I didn t go out to craft a piece of regulation to please the richest man in the world Johnson declared on ABC s This Week What we re trying to do is help hardworking Americans who are trying to provide for their families and make ends meet Johnson insisted Johnson stated he has exchanged text messages with Musk since the former chief of Trump s Department of Cabinet Efficiency came out against the GOP bill Musk called it an abomination that would add to U S debts and threaten economic stability He urged voters to flood Capitol Hill with calls to vote against the measure which is pending in the Senate after clearing the House His criticism sparked an angry social media back-and-forth with Trump who reported reporters over the weekend that he has no desire to repair his relationship with Musk The speaker was dismissive of Musk s threats to finance opponents even Democrats of Republican members who back Trump s bill We ve got almost no calls to the offices any Republican member of Congress Johnson noted And I think that indicates that people are taking a wait and see attitude Particular who may be convinced by various of his arguments but the rest understand this is a very exciting piece of bill Johnson argued that Musk still believes that our policies are better for human flourishing They re better for the US business sector They re better for everything that he s involved in with his innovation and job creation and entrepreneurship The speaker and other Republicans including Trump s White House budget chief continued their push back Sunday against forecasts that their tax and budget plans will add to annual deficits and thus balloon a national debt already climbing toward trillion Johnson insisted that Musk has bad information and the speaker disputed the forecasts of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that scores budget provision The bill would extend the Trump tax cuts cut spending and reduce particular other levies but also leave specific million more people without robustness insurance and spike deficits by trillion over the decade according to the CBO s analysis Related Articles New Americans are winning elections in Colorado Other immigrants want to follow suit How Boulder politics beliefs shaped Sundance Film Fest win over Utah and Ohio Trump says he ll delay a threatened tariff on the European Union until July A Republican push to sell constituents lands in the West is reigniting a political fight Federal judge grants injunction indefinitely bars Trump s use of Alien Enemies Act in Colorado The speaker countered with arguments Republicans have made for decades That lower taxes and spending cuts would spur economic enhancement that ensure deficits fall Russell Vought who leads the White House Office of Budget and Management noted on Fox News Sunday that CBO analysts base their models of artificial baselines Because the tax law set the lower rates to expire CBO s cost estimates Vought argued presuming a return to the higher rates before that law went into effect Vought acknowledged CBO s charge from Congress is to analyze provision and current law as it is written But he stated the office could issue additional analyses implying it would be friendlier to GOP goals Required whether the White House would ask for alternative estimates Vought again put the burden on CBO repeating that congressional rules allow the office to publish more analysis Other Republicans meanwhile approached the Trump-Musk battle cautiously As a former professional fighter I learned a long time ago don t get between two fighters reported Oklahoma Sen Markwayne Mullin on CNN s State of the Union He even compared the two billionaire businessmen to a married couple President Trump is a friend of mine but I don t need to get I can have friends that have disagreements Mullin announced My wife and I dearly love each other and every now and then well certainly quite often sometimes she disagrees with me but that doesn t mean that we can t stay focused on what s best for our family Right now there may be a disagreement but we re laser focused on what is best for the American people Associated Press journalist Gary Fields contributed from Washington Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot