Speaker Johnson responds to Elon Musk's attacks on the Big Beautiful Bill.
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00:00Back and forth on X recently with Elon Musk continuing to say, kill the bill, get rid of it.
00:08You know, how do you sort of cool the tensions here?
00:11How do you move forward when you have this sort of infighting right now online?
00:16Well, look, let me stop.
00:18We're going to get hurt.
00:21I'm trying to cool it down, as you've seen.
00:23I mean, this is not personal.
00:24We can have policy differences and not be personal.
00:27I mean, I can count Elon as a friend, and we disagree with friends in the building all the time on policy.
00:32He's just flat wrong about the bill.
00:34I mean, Russ Vogt put out a post on X a couple of hours ago, the Office of Management and Budget, lifelong fiscal hawk, one of the people we've all looked up to.
00:44And he says, this is going to cut almost a trillion and a half dollars.
00:48It's the largest savings that any legislative body on the face of the earth has ever saved.
00:53Is it enough?
00:54No, but it's a very important first start.
00:56And as I've been making the point, I explained to Elon just Monday, I said, this is the first of a multiple-step process.
01:03We're going to do recisions.
01:05We're going to do an appropriations process that spends less money.
01:08And then we're going to do another reconciliation package and maybe a third one.
01:12So we have to do it in proper sequence.
01:14Look, I'm a fiscal hawk.
01:16I'm a budget hawk myself.
01:17If I could cut $8 trillion in federal spending tonight, I would do it.
01:20But I do not have the votes for that.
01:21So this is a deliberative body to work on consensus.
01:25It took us over a year to reach the consensus to get 217 votes necessary to make the cuts that we have.
01:32And it's a really, really important and historic thing to do.
01:35And we're giving the largest tax cuts in history at the same time.
01:38And all the other big blessings in the bill, we've got to get it done.
01:41And Elon wants us to go back to the drawing board.
01:43There is no time to do that.
01:45The debt unsealing approaches quickly, the debt cliff, and all the other things that we've got to do.
01:50Jet fuel to the economy, it has to start now because we need greater relief for the American people.
01:54And that's what this bill is going to provide.
01:55So he's just wrong.
01:56Are you worried about the impact that some of his statements are going to have?
02:00Look, he's entitled to his opinion.
02:02Everybody has their own opinion.
02:04He has the largest platform in the world, right, most followers.
02:06So I'm sure that has an impact.
02:08But it's not going to change the trajectory of this legislation because the Republicans in the House and the Senate understand what we must do.
02:14We have to deliver President Trump's priorities that he promised the American people.
02:18Our America First agenda is encompassed in this bill.
02:22And we will all work very hard.
02:24And we're not going to scrap the bill just because someone's decided now they don't like it.
02:28I mean, that's the way this works.
02:29This is a process.
02:29There's some concern from Senate Republicans on some of the Medicaid provisions, the provider tax, the cost sharing.
02:36Do you see any room on this side for changing any of those?
02:39The Senate's going to do what they do.
02:41But I've told them and admonished them and pleaded with them to make as few changes as possible because the equilibrium here is very delicate, as you all know.
02:50I anticipate that they'll put some minor modifications to it, but I hope it's minor.
02:55The Medicaid reforms that we are doing here are to save the program.
02:59It is to strengthen the program.
03:00And I'll explain it over and over and over.
03:02The work requirements is high on public opinion polling.
03:05The removing illegal aliens from the rolls is very important.
03:09The ineligible people is very important.
03:13I think the people understand that because we're saving it for the vulnerable populations.
03:16Remember, it's intended for young pregnant women and elderly and disabled.
03:20And those resources are being drained by able-bodied young men who are on the program who shouldn't be.
03:24So we're putting in a work requirement to deter that.
03:26We're doing the best we can to save the program.
03:28And rural hospitals are going to be fine.
03:31We're giving the states flexibility to determine how to do this.
03:34But we have a responsibility in Congress to be fiscally wise and to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars.
03:40And that's what this bill reflects.
03:41So I'm anxious to get it signed into law.
03:43We're going to do that by July 4th.
03:45If Elon doesn't get back to you within a week...