FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
NEW YORK: Elon Musk said he thinks he can cut at least US$2 trillion from the federal budget, laying out his vision for substantial government spending cuts if Donald Trump wins the presidency.
“Your money is being wasted,” Musk said on Sunday at a rally for Trump in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
“We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocket book.”
Trump has said he would ask Musk, the word’s richest person and a major donor to the Republican nominee’s campaign, to head up an effort to cut government spending, nicknamed the Department of Government Efficiency, a reference to a cryptocurrency Musk has embraced.
Some critics have said this position would represent a conflict of interest for Musk.
The companies he runs, including Tesla Inc and SpaceX, have billions of dollars worth of federal contracts and have benefitted from federal spending, including electric vehicle tax credits and infrastructure investments.
The US$2 trillion target represents nearly a third of existing spending. The federal government spent US$6.75 trillion in the financial year 2024, according to the Treasury Department.
Cantor Fitzgerald LP’s Howard Lutnick asked Musk on stage how much he could “rip out of” the budget under President Joe Biden and Trump’s rival, Vice-President Kamala Harris. Musk responded: “Well, I think we can do at least US$2 trillion, yeah.”
Trump on the campaign trail has talked about reducing the federal debt, but has not detailed specific programmes he would curb.
Instead, the Republican nominee has promised a long list of tax cuts aimed at key groups of voters, reductions that economists have warned would balloon the deficit.
Musk has spent at least US$132mil to elect Trump and other Republicans in 2024, federal filings showed.
That level of giving has vaulted him into the upper echelon of political donors, making Musk one of the most prolific contributors of the entire 2024 cycle.
The contributions demonstrate how Musk, who has personally bristled at government regulations, is expanding his political influence network to include a potential future president and members of Congress.
Musk is playing an unprecedented role in the 2024 campaign for a political donor.
In addition to his donations, he’s appeared on stage with Trump and held his own campaign rallies without the former president. — Bloomberg
