Trump Tax Bill: No Pork, Says House Chairman Amid Elon Musk Criticism

In a fiery debate over President Donald Trump’s latest legislative push, House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) has firmly rejected claims by tech mogul Elon Musk that the budget reconciliation bill is stuffed with pork-barrel spending. Arrington clarified that the very nature of a reconciliation bill—focused on mandatory spending like entitlements, healthcare, and tax codes—leaves no room for discretionary earmarks or pet projects. 'There’s no pork in it,' he asserted, emphasizing the bill’s fiscally responsible design.

This ‘big, beautiful bill,’ as Trump calls it, prioritizes extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, while introducing crowd-pleasing measures like eliminating taxes on tips and overtime wages. It also allocates billions for border security and ICE enforcement, alongside a hefty $4 trillion debt limit increase. To balance the books, House Republicans propose tougher work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps, shifting costs to states, and slashing green energy subsidies from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Yet, Musk and other fiscal conservatives aren’t sold. They argue the bill doesn’t cut deep enough into spending and risks ballooning the national debt, already teetering near $37 trillion. Musk has taken to social media, urging lawmakers to ditch the tax cuts and debt limit hike altogether. He’s even backed Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in pushing for a leaner version of the legislation. The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will slash taxes by $3.7 trillion but add $2.4 trillion to deficits over the next decade—a bitter pill for deficit hawks.

On the other side, senior White House adviser Stephen Miller defends the bill as a direct codification of Trump’s campaign promises: tax cuts, border security, and welfare reform. The question remains—will this ambitious package hold together, or will internal GOP rifts and Musk’s public critique force a rethink?