House Speaker Mike Johnson admitted during a press conference on Wednesday that billionaire Elon Musk did not take his phone call amid the blowup over the Republican spending package.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk posted on X Tuesday. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
A reporter asked Johnson during his press conference on Wednesday, “What do you think changed? Why do you think he's coming out against it now? And have you spoken to the president and Elon since the infamous tweet?”
“I called Elon last night and he didn't answer, but I hope to talk to him today,” replied Johnson. “It's very friendly ... and we've laughed about our differences on policy before.”
Johnson claimed that he’s not upset about the situation, adding that Musk has “acknowledged to me before that this is so serious that we can't fool around with it.”
The speaker went on to say that the “debt cliff is approaching very quickly,” and he argued that everything in the bill would serve as “jet fuel” for the American economy.
“All boats are going to rise, and the sooner we do that, the better,” he added. “And the risk of not getting it done is enormous, not just for the Republican Party, but for the country.”
The Congressional Budget Office found that the legislation would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over a decade and cut taxes by $3.7 trillion. The office also found that 10.9 million people would lose health insurance under the bill.
“We're going to have the largest tax increase in US history at the end of the year if we fail,” said Johnson. “... I think Elon understands the weight of that, and I hope he comes around.”
The speaker said he hopes to speak to the billionaire this week and that President Donald Trump is “not delighted that Elon did a 180.”
Musk has continually criticised the spending package.
"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," he previously told CBS News.
“I don't know what happened in 24 hours. Everybody can draw their own conclusions about that, but I look forward to talking to my friend about it again, and I'm not upset about it,” said Johnson on Wednesday.
The speaker faced mockery for his comments on X, the social media platform owned by Musk.
Podcast host Brian Allen said Johnson “getting ghosted by Elon Musk after bending over backwards to carry water for him is chef’s kiss poetic. You sold your spine for a retweet and now you’re out here begging for callbacks like a side character in a bad HBO drama.”
“Elon got what he wanted and now he’s treating you like every Tesla recall: ignoring it until the damage is public,” he added.
“So the extremely obvious prediction that Musk and Trump would last 3-4 months before they got into a huge fight and broke was, in retrospect, pretty much 100 percent correct,” said Jeremiah Johnson.
“Poor Mike Johnson. He’s crying about getting rejected by Elon Musk,” Ed Krassenstein added.
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