‘I agree with Musk': GOP hardliners back Elon despite voting to pass Trump bill

WASHINGTON — “I agree with Musk,” far-right Freedom Caucus member Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) told Raw Story on Wednesday, when asked about Elon Musk’s forceful opposition to Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” the package of tax and spending cuts the House sent to the Senate before Memorial Day — and for which Burlison voted.

Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire, is the world’s richest man. He left the Trump administration last week, after four months leading attempts to slash government budgets and spending through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

On Tuesday, Musk shocked Washington by turning on the Republican budget measure.

Slamming the “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill” as “a disgusting abomination”, Musk thundered: “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

On Wednesday, he added: "Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL."

Burlison, a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, cast his vote last month as the bill passed the House by the narrowest tally possible, 215-214.

Regardless, on Capitol Hill he told Raw Story: “I agree with Musk. I welcome his comments and his energy on this.

“We need more people like Elon Musk because being in the arena and being on the battlefield and fighting, that air cover is awesome.”

But many Republicans fear being strafed by Musk, who donated more than $250 million to Trump’s presidential campaign last year and is widely seen to be able to take out most any Republican who crosses him.

“We probably could have gained more ground in spending cuts if we had had [the bill] earlier, but at the end of the day, I welcome [Musk’s comments],” Burlison insisted. “I think it's awesome.”

The two-term Republican also offered an extended baseball metaphor, about why he voted for the bill.

“The best way that I described this bill is that we're 37 runs down, it's the bottom of the ninth, and the question is, do you bunt to get on first base? And you know what it's like, it's not gonna win the game, but you know what, like, I'm gonna take a bunt if that's all I can take.”

Other right-wingers who voted for the House bill now say they agree with Musk.

“I think he’s right,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R–TN) told Raw Story. “It's big, it's not quite beautiful yet. If the Senate makes additional cuts, it'll become beautiful.”

“When you voted, were you voting for an ‘abomination?’” Raw Story asked.

“His words not mine,” Ogles said. “What it does is, it really puts the pressure on the Senate to do more. So for him to criticize the product that's coming over, that gives the Senate ammunition to say, ‘Hey, we should fix this.’”

Other Republicans found themselves tied in knots, trying not to dump on their own work or Musk’s pointed words.

“We're gonna get through it,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told Raw Story, puffing a stogie while walking across the Capitol grounds.

“We're gonna get through it. Everybody talks. A lot of people talk, not everybody's happy, but it's gonna be fine.”

Nehls insisted, “This isn't about Elon Musk. Elon Musk is one person, but I will tell you, you got 435 members in Congress, and the House passed it. Thin majority, but we got it done.”

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA), more of a moderate, said Musk had turned against the bill because he was “very frustrated” … because “he's a businessman. Trump's a businessman. They want to correct things fast.

“And in government, you can't do that. So, you know, [Musk’s] frustration bubbled over because he's acting like this is the last bill we're ever going to pass. This is four months into the administration. So this is a beginning.”

Where Burlison talked baseball, Meuser looked to football.

“We didn't score a touchdown on this play, but we did run the ball up field 25 yards, and it does have some savings. It's got the taxes, the border, the energy initiatives, everything else,” Meuser said. “So it's a big play, but it's not all of it.”

Meuser added that Musk “doesn’t understand Washington, he understands auditing. He understood what he was tasked with” through DOGE.

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R–WI) dismissed questions about Musk, telling Raw Story that as “a retired Navy Seal Senior Chief,” he had “had about 50 of my friends killed in training and in combat since 9/11, and I broke my spine. That was painful. Somebody disagreeing with me politically is not.”

Asked if Musk’s intervention might complicate matters in the Senate, Van Orden said: “Dude, listen, I do me.

“I respect Elon Musk. The work he's done is just remarkable, but you know, his 130-day term as a special government employee has expired. Will he continue to give input? I sure hope so.”

Democrats seeking to highlight what they and independent analysts say the Big Beautiful Bill will mean for the national debt (a big increase) and Medicaid (severe cuts) looked on.

Of Musk, Rep. Mark Pocan (D–WI) told Raw Story: “To be fair, I've had Republicans tell me they didn't know what DOGE was up to. They didn't get any updates either.”

Pocan added: “Instead of letting an unelected billionaire and a bunch of outsiders make decisions as an extra-governmental organization, because that's kind of what DOGE has become … [we] should maybe have a bigger policy conversation.”

Back on the Republican side of the aisle, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a leading Trump ally, pointed to the common absurdity of a House chamber which often twists members into human pretzels, pushed to vote first one way then the other, often opposing bills they recently supported.

“Anybody who comes to this place with a desire to do things that are logical gets frustrated very fast,” Donalds told Raw Story.