Elon Musk exits Trump administration, says: DOGE mission has become a ..., in his goodbye note

Elon Musk has announced his exit from DOGE – the task force established earlier this year to cut federal spending. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk said that his scheduled time as a Special Government Employee has come to an end. Announcing his exit, Musk thanked President Donald Trump for the opportunity to run the Department of Government Efficiency. In his goodbye note, the tech billionaire wrote that DOGE mission will continue to strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.Here’s what Musk’s post on X reads:“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”Musk was appointed as a Special Government Employee by the Trump administration to work a federal job for 130 days each year. Had he stayed, the limit would have been reached by late May, based on Trump's January 20 inauguration. His exit comes just one day after he voiced "disappointment" with the president's budget plan, which features sweeping tax cuts and expanded military spending.In an interview with CBS scheduled to air on June 1, Musk said “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it could be both,” he added. The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (H.R.1) was recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, by a narrow 215–214 vote. The bill aims to make permanent the successful 2017 Trump tax cuts and includes critical pro-growth policies that will cut taxes by an additional $1,300 for a family of four and deliver higher wages and incomes for millions of Americans.Responds to Musk's 'disappointment', Trump said "Well, our reaction's a lot of things." "Number one, we have to get a lot of votes, we can't be cutting — we need to get a lot of support and we have a lot of support," he added, highlighting the absence of Democratic support. "If it was up to the Democrats, they'll take the 65 percent increase," he said.