US
Donald Trump celebrates ‘big beautiful bill’ being passed in Senate after fresh spat with Elon Musk
Donald Trump said it was “music to my ears” after his “big beautiful bill” was narrowly passed in the US Senate, following a fresh spat with Elon Musk.
The US president, who has been in Florida visiting the new “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention centre, at one point said he would have to “take a look” as to whether he could deport the tech billionaire as their row over the bill resurfaced.
Senate Republicans were able to push through Mr Trump‘s tax breaks and spending cuts bill despite opposition from Democrats and their own ranks.
In the end the vote tally was 50-50, with vice president JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
Three Republican senators – Thom Tillis, Susan Collins and Rand Paul – joined all Democrats in voting against it.
“The big not so beautiful bill has passed,” Mr Paul said afterwards.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, where it will be debated, with a vote on Wednesday.
Speaking at a news conference at the migrant detention centre after finding out the result of Tuesday’s vote, Mr Trump said: “Wow, music to my ears.”
Musk and Trump row resurfaces
It came after a day where Mr Musk stepped up his attacks on Mr Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, weeks after a spectacular fallout between the world’s richest man and the US president.
Following weeks of relative silence after clashing with Mr Trump over the bill, the billionaire vowed to unseat politicians who support it.
In a post on X, Musk said those who had campaigned on cutting spending but then backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame”.
He added: “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
Musk also threatened to put their faces on a poster which said “liar” and “voted to increase America’s debt” by $5trn (£3.6trn).
The posts attracted a swift reply from Mr Trump, who claimed the billionaire “may get more subsidy than any human being in history” for his electric car business.
“Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
Asked later if he would consider deporting Mr Musk, the US president said: “I don’t know, we’ll have to take a look.”
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Elon’s dad on the Musk-Trump bust-up
Musk spent at least $250m (£182m) supporting Mr Trump in his presidential campaign and then led the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sacked about 120,000 federal employees.
He has argued the legislation would greatly increase the US national debt and wipe out the savings he claimed he achieved through DOGE.
As the Senate discussed the package, Musk called it “utterly insane and destructive”.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the bill’s massive spending indicated “we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!”
“Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people,” he wrote.
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Musk previously said some of his social media posts during his dramatic fallout with Mr Trump “went too far”.
He had shared a series of posts on X, including one that described Mr Trump’s tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”.
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He also claimed, in a since-deleted post, that the president appeared in files relating to the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
But Musk later wrote: “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”
In response, the president told the New York Post: “I thought it was very nice that he did that.”
Trump’s trip to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Meanwhile, the US president was still keen to show his tough stance on immigration on the day his bill was voted on in the Senate.
The so-called Alligator Alcatraz detention facility is at an isolated airstrip in the Everglades, around 50 miles west of Miami, capable of holding 5,000 people.
Donald Trump visits ‘Alligator Alcatraz’. Pic: Reuters
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the centre is “informally known as Alligator Alcatraz”.
She said: “There’s only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight.
“It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain.
“A detention centre surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape.”
During his second term, Mr Trump has even suggested reopening the actual Alcatraz – the notorious island prison off San Francisco.