WASHINGTON: Billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday criticized the latest version of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill released by the US Senate, calling it “utterly insane and destructive.” As Senate Republicans prepared to vote on the measure, Democrats warned that its tax-cut elements would disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of social programs relied upon by lower-income Americans. “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” Musk wrote in a post on X.
“It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.” Musk's renewed his tirade against the proposed measure, called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, weeks after the world’s richest person and Trump, the world's most powerful, ended a feud sparked by Musk’s opposition to the bill. Senate Republicans planned to vote Saturday on the bill after agreeing on changes to address concerns about funding for rural hospitals and the deductibility of state taxes.
Several Republican senators who had previously expressed hesitancy about voting for the bill told reporters that their concerns had been assuaged and that they were ready to vote to clear a first procedural hurdle in the coming hours. Senator John Barrasso, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said the first procedural vote on the legislation would take place shortly, though it did not start by 4 p.
m. (2000 GMT), as he had pre.