Billionaire Elon Musk slams bill as \u201cutterly insane and destructive\u201d
\n WASHINGTON
\nThe US Senate advanced President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill on Saturday, with billionaire Elon Musk warning the draft legislation would \u201cdestroy millions of jobs\u201d and \u201ccause immense strategic harm\u201d to the United States.
\nMusk slammed the plan as \u201cutterly insane and destructive,\u201d saying it handed subsidies to outdated industries while undermining those of the future.
\nHis remarks came after a key procedural vote passed 51\u201349, raising the odds that lawmakers will be able to pass Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d in the coming days, which is his top legislative priority.
\nThe procedural vote, which would start debate on the 940-page megabill to fund Trump\u2019s top immigration, border, tax-cut and military priorities, began after hours of delay.
\nIt then remained open for more than three hours of standstill as three Republican senators \u2014 Thom Tillis, Ron Johnson and Rand Paul \u2014 joined Democrats to oppose the legislation. Three others\u2013Senators Rick Scott, Mike Lee and Cynthia Lummis \u2014 negotiated with Republican leaders into the night in hopes of securing bigger spending cuts.
\nIn the end, Wisconsin Senator Johnson flipped his no vote to yes, leaving only Paul and Tillis opposed among Republicans.
\nTrump was monitoring the vote from the Oval Office late into the night, a senior White House official said.
\nThe megabill would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump\u2019s main legislative achievement during his first term as president, cut other taxes and boost spending on the military and border security.
\nNonpartisan analysts estimate that a version of Trump\u2019s tax-cut and spending bill would add trillions to the $36.2-trillion US government debt.
\nDemocrats fiercely opposed the bill, saying its tax-cut elements would disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of social programs that lower-income Americans rely upon.
\nChuck Schumer, the Senate\u2019s top Democrat, demanded that the bill be read aloud before debate could begin, saying the Senate Republicans were scrambling to pass a \u201cradical bill\u201d.
\n\u201cIf Senate Republicans won\u2019t tell the American people what\u2019s in this bill, then Democrats are going to force this chamber to read it from start to finish,\u201d the New York Democrat said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billionaire Elon Musk slams bill as \u201cutterly insane and destructive\u201d WASHINGTON The US Senate advanced President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill on Saturday, with billionaire Elon Musk warning the draft legislation would \u201cdestroy millions of jobs\u201d and \u201ccause immense strategic harm\u201d to the United States. Musk slammed the plan as \u201cutterly insane and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-487406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n