Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
Speaker 1: now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to the
Speaker 1: Daily OS. It's Thursday, the fifth of June. I'm Billy Fitzsimon.
Speaker 2: I'm Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 1: You may have seen that Elon Musk has criticized a
Speaker 1: bill brought forward by US President Donald Trump. To be specific,
Speaker 1: must call Trump's bill a disgusting abomination. It comes just
Speaker 1: days after Musk finished up at the White House as
Speaker 1: the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, also known
Speaker 1: as DOGE. It's left us with one question. A Trump
Speaker 1: and Musk, a duo whose close relationship have been at
Speaker 1: the center of political power this year in the US
Speaker 1: now fighting and if so, what's it all about? Well,
Speaker 1: explain what you need to know in today's podcast, Billy.
Speaker 2: This is not the turn in the el mask Donald
Speaker 2: Trump friendship, bromance, whatever you want to call it, that
Speaker 2: I saw coming. But some very strong language this week.
Speaker 2: Let's take a step back. Why was Elon Musk ever
Speaker 2: in the White House? To begin with?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, if you're not familiar with Elon Musk, although
Speaker 1: I'm sure many of our listeners are, he is one
Speaker 1: of the richest people in the world. He is the banks.
Speaker 2: The richest man in the world.
Speaker 1: He is the owner of x, the social media platform
Speaker 1: formerly known as Twitter. He is also the CEO of
Speaker 1: Tesla and has a whole suite of very very successful companies. Now,
Speaker 1: it was big news when he did become part of
Speaker 1: the White House under Donald Trump, because I think it
Speaker 1: is quite unusual for someone who is so successful in
Speaker 1: the private sector to then make this move into the
Speaker 1: public sector. Yeah, although I guess it does kind of
Speaker 1: mimic Donald Trump himself.
Speaker 2: True.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And so Mask became part of the White House
Speaker 1: because he was appointed as the leader of the Department
Speaker 1: of Government Efficiency, which, as I said before, is more
Speaker 1: commonly known as DOGE. And now that was, or is,
Speaker 1: I should say, a government agency established when Trump was
Speaker 1: sworn in as president earlier this year. So it was
Speaker 1: an entirely new agency. It had never been created before. Now,
Speaker 1: its goal was very simple. Its goal was to reduce
Speaker 1: what it labeled as wasteful spending by the US government,
Speaker 1: and it did have certain targets, although like any good
Speaker 1: target it changed over time. So at the start, I
Speaker 1: think it was around the two trillion marks. So it
Speaker 1: wanted to reduce spending by the US government buy up
Speaker 1: to two trillion dollars.
Speaker 2: And you might remember in the very very early days
Speaker 2: of the Trump administration some quite sweeping threats or comments
Speaker 2: about cuts to public sector government jobs on the line.
Speaker 2: There were some pretty significant announcements in those early days.
Speaker 1: Yes, and then the target changed and it was reduced
Speaker 1: to one trillion dollars. The goal was to reduce spending
Speaker 1: by one trillion dollars. Now just less than six months
Speaker 1: in to DOGE, it hasn't achieved that, although we are
Speaker 1: just six months in and it is set to continue.
Speaker 2: I mean a trillion dollars in US or Australian. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of money. It's more than my small
Speaker 2: brain can even comprehend.
Speaker 1: Now. Last week Elon Musk said that DOGE had found
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty billion dollars in savings for the
Speaker 1: next financial year, which is of course significantly less than
Speaker 1: the one trillion dollars that he was planning to save,
Speaker 1: but one hundred and fifty billion dollars still no small
Speaker 1: amount of money.
Speaker 2: I think it's also important to flag that in his
Speaker 2: capacity as this advisor to DOGE, Elon Musk wasn't necessarily
Speaker 2: an elected official. He was brought on in this advisory capacity,
Speaker 2: which is why he's no longer in the job. It
Speaker 2: was kind of always going to be this temporary role.
Speaker 2: Come in, cleaning up, so to speak, and get out
Speaker 2: and go and live.
Speaker 1: Your life, exactly. And I think that's what's important here
Speaker 1: is that Elon Musk is no longer part of DOGE,
Speaker 1: although DOGE will continue after he has now left, But
Speaker 1: it was always planned that his involvement in this would
Speaker 1: only ever be temporary. And that's because he was serving
Speaker 1: as something called a special government employee, and that is
Speaker 1: just a specific category of temporary contractor who can only
Speaker 1: work for the federal government for one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: days each year. So that's a very specific thing in
Speaker 1: US law and.
Speaker 2: Ties into democracy elected officials being the key decision makers exactly.
Speaker 1: And he was also unpaid, so he didn't receive any
Speaker 1: money in that role. And so all of that meant
Speaker 1: that his last day was last Friday, and on his
Speaker 1: last day, Trump and Mask held a press conference. It
Speaker 1: was mostly civil, it was nothing out of the ordinary
Speaker 1: for the two. They both complimented each other and Musk
Speaker 1: said that he looks forward to quote continuing to be
Speaker 1: a friend and advisor to the president. So as of
Speaker 1: last Friday, all mostly looked good.
Speaker 2: I will say it was very civil on the surface,
Speaker 2: but it was a far cry from Elon Musk waving
Speaker 2: a chainsaw on stage, which you might remember back in February,
Speaker 2: he brought this chainsaw on stage as a kind of
Speaker 2: symbol of how he was going to slash spending in
Speaker 2: this role, and it was all very exciting, shiny concert
Speaker 2: like rockstar like energy around this political relationship. So it
Speaker 2: has been a few days since that final conference, that
Speaker 2: departure of Elon Musk from that role. But now he's
Speaker 2: come out swinging. He's been very critical of Trump. What
Speaker 2: has Elon Musk said?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yesterday we woke to the news that Musk
Speaker 1: has very heavily criticized one of Trump's proposed laws, which
Speaker 1: is called the Big Beautiful Bill. So in a po
Speaker 1: x yesterday, Musk said, this massive, outrageous Porkfield Congressional spending
Speaker 1: bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted
Speaker 1: for it. You know you did wrong, you know it.
Speaker 1: I will say, it's actually not the first time that
Speaker 1: Musk has criticized this big beautiful bill. He also did
Speaker 1: that last week, right before his final day, but this
Speaker 1: is definitely his strongest criticism of it yet, at least publicly,
Speaker 1: we don't know what has happened behind closed doors. I
Speaker 1: would also point out, though, that Mask has stopped short
Speaker 1: of naming Trump specifically, So he's criticizing this bill, but
Speaker 1: he hasn't said Trump by name, although we of course
Speaker 1: know that Trump is the one behind this bill.
Speaker 2: We'll be back with more of today's deep dive right
Speaker 2: after this. Yeah, this bill really has been at the
Speaker 2: center of Trump's second term as president. So what is
Speaker 2: the quote unquote big beautiful bill? What do we need
Speaker 2: to know about it? Why does it mean so much
Speaker 2: to Donald Trump?
Speaker 1: So this bill sets out key parts of Trump's domestic
Speaker 1: policy agenda. So it sets out what he wants to
Speaker 1: do within the US specifically, and some of it is
Speaker 1: about cutting spending, but then some of it also increases
Speaker 1: spending by the US government. I'll go through There's so
Speaker 1: much in it, but I'll go through some of what
Speaker 1: it includes. So one is that it extends tax cuts
Speaker 1: that were introduced during Trump's first term. Those tax cuts
Speaker 1: were actually due to expire this year, but under this bill,
Speaker 1: those tax cuts will extend for many more years to come.
Speaker 2: So picking up where Trump left off the last.
Speaker 1: Time exactly, and just to explain it a little bit more,
Speaker 1: that means that the government will be earning less in
Speaker 1: revenue from income tax So we know that government spending
Speaker 1: relies significantly on taxes, and because of this bill, they
Speaker 1: will now have less of that income from taxes. It
Speaker 1: also increases spending or funding at the US Mexico border
Speaker 1: to control or stop illegal immigration. So those two specific
Speaker 1: parts of this bill will increase the deficit. But then
Speaker 1: there are parts of the bill that will then limit spending.
Speaker 1: So one of that is limiting who is eligible for
Speaker 1: something called Medicaid, and that's a program which helps cover
Speaker 1: medical expenses for those on lower incomes. So under this bill,
Speaker 1: Trump is wanting to limit who is eligible for the program,
Speaker 1: which means that the government will be spending less on
Speaker 1: the program. It also wants to bring forward the expiry
Speaker 1: date of some renewable energy initiatives, so it wants to
Speaker 1: spend less money on clean energy. And then it also
Speaker 1: wants to increase the national debt limit by four trillion dollars.
Speaker 2: Here we are with this trillion figure. Again, So just
Speaker 2: to recap, we've got a bill that would cut tax
Speaker 2: revenue for the government but also reduce its spending on
Speaker 2: welfare and renewable energy. What is the national debt limit though?
Speaker 2: What does that really mean?
Speaker 1: So this is something that I feel like, especially in
Speaker 1: the last five years or so, has come up time
Speaker 1: and time again. It is a limit that is set
Speaker 1: by Congress on the amount of money that the federal
Speaker 1: US government can borrow to fund its policies and operations. Right,
Speaker 1: I feel like, for another day we need to explain
Speaker 1: why all countries are in very, very large debts.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: But like I said, I think that is for another day.
Speaker 1: What you need to know is that under this bill,
Speaker 1: Trump wants to increase the national debt limit by four
Speaker 1: trillion dollars.
Speaker 2: So it's kind of like expanding America's credit limit.
Speaker 1: Yes, got it.
Speaker 2: So back to Musk's criticism of this plan, then, is
Speaker 2: he saying Congress are spending too much money with this plan?
Speaker 1: Exactly? That? In a nutshell, that is exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 1: And this is all in the context of the life
Speaker 1: six months where he has tried to cut how much
Speaker 1: the US government is spending, and now he's saying that
Speaker 1: with this bill, the government is basically just undoing what
Speaker 1: he's done because they're just spending more and more by trillions.
Speaker 1: Just to give you more of an idea of what
Speaker 1: he said yesterday, he also said, quote mammoth spending bills
Speaker 1: are bankrupting America, and that has been a word that
Speaker 1: has come up time and time again by Mask. He
Speaker 1: has said that if we do not control the spending,
Speaker 1: America will go bankrupt.
Speaker 2: How has the White House responded to all of these comments.
Speaker 2: He's obviously tabling some significant concerns around spending, very strong language,
Speaker 2: very critical about this plan. What are officials saying to that?
Speaker 1: I will say that this concern about the spending of
Speaker 1: this specific bill isn't necessarily new. So the White House
Speaker 1: Press Secretary back in May responded to concerns about it,
Speaker 1: and she said it does not add to the deficit.
Speaker 1: And she actually claimed that it will say one point
Speaker 1: six trillion dollars, So she's saying it will do the
Speaker 1: opposite of what Musk is saying it will do. In
Speaker 1: terms of Trump himself, he hasn't personally responded to Musk's
Speaker 1: most recent comments, at least at the time of recording. However,
Speaker 1: just hours after Elon Musk sent out this post, White
Speaker 1: House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt she did hold a press
Speaker 1: briefing where she was obviously asked about it. He's a
Speaker 1: little bit of what she said. The President already knows
Speaker 1: where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn't change
Speaker 1: the president's opinion. This is one big, beautiful bell and
Speaker 1: he's sticking to it.
Speaker 2: So, Billy, what happens now? This bill has passed the
Speaker 2: House of Reps. But it's not a sure thing yet.
Speaker 2: What is in the future for the bill?
Speaker 1: Exactly so, like you said, it has already passed the
Speaker 1: House of Representatives. Now the next step is for it
Speaker 1: to pass the Senate. Now, the Republicans, which is the
Speaker 1: party that Donald Trump leads, they do have a slight
Speaker 1: majority in the Senate, which usually would mean that it
Speaker 1: probably would pass. However, there have been some Republicans who
Speaker 1: have come out criticizing this bill. I think it works
Speaker 1: quite differently to Australia, where in Australia, if a party
Speaker 1: supports a bill, that kind of means that everyone who
Speaker 1: is a member of that party also has to support
Speaker 1: it's going to toe the party line exactly. In the US,
Speaker 1: they don't have that, so there can be Republicans who
Speaker 1: don't support it. And they only have a majority in
Speaker 1: the Senate by something like three members, so they really
Speaker 1: do need most people to support this bill. It probably
Speaker 1: will pass, but there might be some amendments, and then,
Speaker 1: just like all bills, if there are amendments in the Senate,
Speaker 1: it needs to go back to the House of Representatives,
Speaker 1: and then once it gets that, it will then be
Speaker 1: signed into law.
Speaker 2: As with any major policy from this administration. Billy, I'm
Speaker 2: sure this is just the beginning in terms of what
Speaker 2: we're going to hear about this bill, and knowing Trump
Speaker 2: and Musk as we do, I'm sure they won't be
Speaker 2: holding back with their thoughts and feelings about it either.
Speaker 2: So we will keep our listeners updated on that one.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for explaining it to us. Thank you,
Speaker 2: and thank you for listening to today's episode. If you
Speaker 2: enjoyed it, feel free to share it with a friend.
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Speaker 2: We will be back later on today with your evening headlines,
Speaker 2: but until then, have a great day.
Speaker 1: Bye. My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud
Speaker 1: Arunda Bungelung Caalcutin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz
Speaker 1: acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of
Speaker 1: the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and
Speaker 1: Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to
Speaker 1: the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.